


The Seven Truths; or how Lin Beifong found her way back home

by Metope0



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Growing Up, Hope, Loneliness, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Romance, Trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29623332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metope0/pseuds/Metope0
Summary: At six years old, Lin Beifong was aware of the fact that she didn’t know a lot about life yet. And of what she knew, very little seemed to be an absolute truth. In fact, the things she was absolutely sure of could almost be counted on one hand. What Lin Beifong did know, however, was that she was vey far away from home and that she was most definitely in very deep trouble. Simultaneously, far away, in Republic City, the esteemed Chief of Police was at her wit's end. “Lin! Lin where are you!?”--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As a child, Lin gets seperated from her mother. Caught in the middle of  dissatisfaction and unrest growing beneath the surface of the industrializing world among those who are not born with the same advantages as others, Lin tries to find her way back to her family. Even though, with each passing year, it becomes harder and harder to remember where and who her family actually is.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Tenzin
Comments: 59
Kudos: 114





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,
> 
> welcome to my new story! I hope this story will be to your liking!  
> In this story I hope to explore much of Lin's psychology, her growing up, her relationship with her mother, sister, and the rest of team Avatar. In this story, we are going to follow Lin from the moment in time I am starting this story in the chapter below, to where she finds her way back to her family and onwards from there. That is why I am already tagging this story as LinZin, even though it will take a few chapters before we get to that.
> 
> I am VERY curious of what you will think of this first chapter. It has quite a lot of Toph's POV in it, because right now, that is necessary to set the stage, but I plan on following Lin's POV in the chapters to come.
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudo's to let me know what you think, and I hope you'll enjoy this story ^^.  
> Best,
> 
> Metope

At six years old, Lin Beifong was aware of the fact that she didn’t know a lot about life yet. And of what she knew, very little seemed to be an absolute truth.

In fact, the things she was absolutely sure of could almost be counted on one hand:

One. She knew her last name was Beifong.

Two. She knew that that last name _meant_ something in the world. There was respect for that name in the Earth Kingdom because of her grandparents; and in Republic City because of her mom. What it meant _exactly,_ she was less sure of however.

Three. She knew she liked earthbending and wanted to be just as good and brave as her mother one day.

Four. Although she liked earthbending, if she was being honest, she liked it a lot less that for the past year, her mother had started to play less with her, and only seemed to want to train with her these days. Which was apparently for her own good, whatever that may mean.

Five. She knew that her mom and her aunties Katara, Suki and Mai and uncles Sokka, Aang and Zuko were considered ‘special’ by others. But to her they were just her mom and uncles and aunts. Just as Bumi, Kya, Tenzin and Izumi were her friends.

Six. Her mom was the best mom in the whole world and she loved her mom with every fiber of her being.

Maybe it was silly to recite this little list of things to herself every day, but that is what Lin did ever since she found herself in the predicament she was in. It helped her stay calm and keep the tears at bay - those were not appreciated around here.

And it was also to make sure that she would not forget. Especially since it had been a _lot_ of days and nights since she had last seen her mom or anyone of her family or had even slept in her own bed.

On top of that, it scared her how much there was right now that she did _not_ know and did not understand. Like, where she was; and who these people were; why they didn’t let her go; how they did not seem to care who her family was; how they did something to her so that she couldn’t use her bending, and how they punished her every time she managed to undo it by meditating like Uncle Aang had taught her; and most of all, she did not understand why her mom or uncle Sokka or anyone else hadn’t found her yet.

The only things she was sure of right now were the six things on her little list. Or well...maybe there was one other thing she knew:

Seven. Lin Beifong knew she was very far away from home and that she was most definitely in very deep trouble.

...

Being a mother was not something Toph knew she had ever wanted. Whenever she thought about the future as a kid, fighting the Fire Nation with Aang and the others, she would imagine many things for herself in the future, but being a mother wasn’t one of them.

It was perhaps the biggest difference between her and Katara. Sugar Queen had known she wanted to be a mother even before she could walk, Toph was sure.

It was surprising therefore, that when Katara had gotten pregnant with her first child, _she_ had been the one who suddenly started having doubts about bringing a child in this world. Toph could point out several reasons for that, one being the pressure on her of the baby having to be an airbender - which it wasn’t, although Bumi made up for it by being pretty much everything and anything else in the world that was good, as did Kya. It was also caused by the fact that Aang, though he loved his wife and children, turned out to be the type of partner that really _wants_ to be there for his family, and really tries, but has let his ambition get the better of him a few times too many. And then there was Katara’s own character, striving for perfection and wanting to do things right.

Extreme mood swings and hormonal insecurity were present around the clock, and thus, team Avatar soon learned: when Katara was pregnant, _all_ of them - Toph, Aang, Sokka, Suki, even Zuko and Mai - were pregnant. Which is why Toph had had to suppress a string of curses by the time Katara – with a toddling Kya beside her and a whirlwind of a six year old running around the room – had beamingly announced she was pregnant again.

Even then, Toph still didn’t see being a mother as something for her. But a year later Katara cautiously told her that her constant nausea found its source in the fact that she was expecting. The waterbender had had an anxious look on her face as she said this, cradling her infant son - almost holding him against her as a line of defense of sorts because who would hurt a woman holding a baby? – and bracing herself for Toph to explode.

And Katara had been right to do so, Toph was expecting herself to explode as well. Except, she didn’t feel any _need_ to explode. Instead, she felt calm. There had been a messy yearlong relationship with a nice, good looking man, whose stubborn character was just too much like her own, causing them to make each other miserable by fighting all day long towards the end of it. They had an amicable breakup after which they parted ways without ways of contacting one another again as there was no intention whatsoever to do so. Paradoxically, in that whole story, this pregnancy somehow felt right. Something good to come out of all the mess.

So yes, she had felt calm. No need to explode. She was going to do this. She was going to do it alone, but also together. Because if she had been going through all three of Katara’s pregnancies, then there was no way Katara was not going to live through hers. She was almost disappointed, therefore, when her pregnancy was an easy one, as it didn’t feel like half the payback she thought her friend had deserved.

And then there she was. A little girl with ten toes and ten fingers, a tiny button nose, and bright green eyes, so Katara told here. Eyes that looked widely into the world, taking it all in. Toph’s only fear throughout her entire pregnancy disappeared as soon as Katara described her. Her daughter could see. _Lin_ could see.

When Lin was still an infant, her own inability to see wasn’t much of a problem. Lin could literally not go anywhere and even when she started to crawl and later walk, Toph would always know where her daughter was exactly through seismic sense. The challenge presented itself once Lin started to learn how to talk and picked up the habit of pointing at things to ask what it was called. Try explaining to a two year old that pointing works for most people, and that she can point all she wants when she is at auntie Katara’s, but that with mommy it doesn’t. But they found a way around it, the two of them. Just as they did with all the other challenges to come.

At four, Lin bent a tiny rock against the head of her kindergarten teacher because he told her she had to stop playing outside. Toph had a grin from ear to ear on her face during the entire reprimand she received from the man when she was summoned to come and pick her daughter up from school for ‘insolent behavior’. That same week, she switched Lin to a different school in the city, the one where Katara’s children went to as well, because it was renowned for its bending teachers. Initially Toph hadn’t seen the need as she herself could teach Lin perfectly well and this other school was further away from where they lived. But she saw the added value now. This school understood bending better than the previous one, where the majority of teachers and children were non-benders.

It was around that same time that the imaginary lines between work and private life started to blur. She was involved in a particularly tricky case at the time, but not once had she thought her daughter could become a target. Stupid of course. To clients she always explained that the bad guys would go after the family first. But in her own situation she simply hadn’t thought they would have the audacity.

They had tried to take Lin from school. Her daughter had started to scream as soon as foreign hands had grabbed her. Another reason why it had been a good decision to change schools: the teachers were all experienced benders, and they had had been able to fend off the kidnappers as soon as they heard Lin scream for help. All Lin got from the entire ordeal was a big scare, that resulted in nightmares for a couple of nights but luckily nothing more.

For Toph the consequences had cut deeper however. If this had happened now, this could happen again. Meaning she would have to teach Lin how to defend herself and they would have to start now. They had to toughen up.

With the knowledge Toph had now, everything that happened in the two years to follow that decision, brought along a lot of ‘in hindsights’.

Because _in hindsight_ , Toph regretted that she let the fear get to her that something could happen to Lin when she wasn’t there to protect her. Much of the - already increasingly rare - time away from the office that she had had that year, she spent training Lin. No matter the weather, no matter the protests of her daughter - the tantrums, the begging, the crying. Katara chastised her for pushing Lin too much, but Toph hadn’t listened. It was all for the greater good. She was accepting her young daughter’s yelling at her in frustration. She was fine with learning that there were many things in which she and Lin were alike, but that Lin was more sensitive, and by nature a little less courageous and secure about her own capabilities- Toph wondered if she would have been like that too if her parents hadn’t suffocated her as they had done. She wasn’t fine with forcing Lin to learn how to push those feelings, that sensitivity aside when they were training – although she knew it had to be done. As long as by the end of it, it would mean Lin would be a better earth- and metalbender than Toph was herself.

And make no mistake, Toph still made sure that they had their moments of peace and relaxation. During winter solstice for example, and national holidays. They just became...less frequent, and _in hindsight_ that was nothing but a shame.

By the time Lin was six, Toph was confident she would at least be able to cause enough of an commotion so that if anyone would ever try to kidnap her again, they would regret the decision instantly.

But again, _in hindsight_ , hadn’t it all been for nothing? Shouldn’t she just have spent those two years with Lin like they had spent them before? Laughing, playing, goofing around, learning some bending along the way without the pressure? Because what difference had her strict parenting made in the end? Absolutely nothing.

When Lin had just turned six years old, Toph had found herself to be expecting again. She was excited, though also a little more worried this time to soon have _two_ children that could be targeted by triads and the like.

This pregnancy was nothing like her pregnancy with Lin however. That much had become clear from the start. Safe for Katara she hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Lin, but she had realized she would have to soon. Sooner than usual, if only because the symptoms had been too visible to hide. The major one having been the fact that she had morning sickness all day long. Severely.

It caused her to grow weak and forced her to call in sick for the first time in six years, as all she could do was throw up or sleep to a degree that Katara eventually had decided that the two of them could best temporarily stay on Air Temple Island where she could take better care of Toph. They would go the next day.

 _In hindsight,_ they should have just gone that same day. Later, Toph would think about that so many times. But instead, they had gone for a walk in the park situated between the docks to Air Temple Island and the downtown ,that afternoon. It had been nearing dinnertime so the park was as good as empty, safe for the two of them, just as they liked it.

Despite an empty stomach and not having eaten anything substantial in two days, Toph had started to feel nauseous halfway through their walk. She slowed her step, hoping the nausea would subside, but instead she started to feel dizzy as well. Finding a bench nearby she all but stumbled towards it, an involuntary groan leaving her lips.

“Mommy are you alright?” Lin carefully asked, and Toph caught the tremor in Lin’s voice, indicating the girl was catching onto the distress her usually so confident and strong mother was in.

Toph wanted to reassure Lin, but she felt disoriented, her feet weren’t able to stabilize her to the ground as her head continued to sway, seemingly pulling her out of her center of gravity. Instinctively she leaned forward, burying her head between her knees in an attempt to gain back some sense of clarity. But to no avail. Sensing that this was a little more than just a nausea spell, Toph realized they needed help.

It was that terrible swirling, throbbing sensation in both her mind and her body that she would forever remember from that terrible day, as she croaked out to Lin to go and get help. They were near the ferry to Air Temple Island, and with no one around that was their best shot. If Lin would walk to the next crossing and would take the bridge to the right, the road would lead her straight to the ferry, there was no mistaking.

“Do you think you can do that Linny?” Toph panted, as she tried to suppress the new concern she was now also feeling over sending her six year old alone to the ferry with dusk only moments away. But the serious and clear sounding ‘yes mommy, I know the way. From Lin, gave her some comfort.

As she heard Lin running away in the direction she had pointed at, Toph tried to use her seismic sense to follow Lin for as long as she could. The extra exertion was too much however, and despite her fighting against the fog that was entering her mind, she lost consciousness before Lin had even reached the crossroads.

Hours later, upon waking up in the hospital alone instead of in the home of Katara and Aang, she knew immediately that something had gone terribly wrong. Fear had consumed her, and for the first time in her life, Toph experienced what it was to have a panic attack. One that the healers rushing in upon noticing her distress were unable to get her through. And she only got it under control when luckily, Katara and Sokka arrived just in that moment and hurried to help her and breathe through it.

Once she was able to breathe properly again, it took Toph all of her courage to ask them if they could _please_ confirm that Lin was staying with either one of them. But when Sokka muttered that they had hoped Lin would be with her in the hospital, it felt as if the bed and floor underneath her disappeared from under her.

In the hours that followed, she forced herself to stay calm. And while Katara and the healers in the hospital ran tests and tried to diagnose what it was that was making her so sick that she couldn’t even stand without getting nauseous and dizzy, Toph called a team of her best policemen together to immediately go and check out the sight. Maybe Lin was still in the park.

But as the team reconstructed what could have happened, they determined that Lin had most likely confused what was left and what was right - as children her age so often do. Lin hadn’t taken the bridge towards the ferry, which would have been a safe road to navigate. Instead, she had taken the bridge on her left, leading her straight into the slums of the city. People living close to the edge of the park confirmed they had seen a little girl, too well dressed to be from the area, wondering into the neighborhood that afternoon. No one could say where she had gone next.

And when 24 hours turned into 48, Toph had to accept that her little girl was officially missing now. Still refusing to think the worst, however, she kept her hopes up. Lin having wondered into the slums wasn’t a good sign, but it didn’t have to mean anything actually happened to her, right?

She could have gotten lost, someone meaning well could have taken her in, or she may still be wondering the streets of the city. They just had to find her, that was all. Lin was a clever kid, she would be trying to make her way back home.

So Toph put together a new search team and coordinated them from the hospital bed, while the healers informed her that she was to stay on absolute bedrest until she was out of the first trimester – a verdict that Toph contested loudly until Katara backed it up and told her in no uncertain terms that if she did not follow the advice, they might find Lin in a few days from now and would have to tell her that her mother and sibling had not made it due to her mother’s stubbornness and disregard for her own wellbeing and that of the baby.

But then her team found one of Lin’s shoes in a shady back ally amidst of clumsily bent rocks and stones. Clear signs of a struggle.

Alright. She hadn’t just gotten lost, something bad had happened. But even if she had been taken, that must have been to have some leverage over her, Toph thought. So someone would come forward soon enough to demand whatever it was they wanted in exchange for her daughter’s freedom.

With no other clues to go on, all they could do was wait- and it was only now that it was happening to her, that Toph realized that this advice, which she had given to the family of so many victims in the past, was the worst, most excruciatingly frustrating advice ever given.

But with two days turning into a week and then into two, the conclusion had to be drawn that if Lin had indeed been kidnapped, the kidnappers hadn’t come forward yet. And it raised the question if they ever would.

So yet another search party was set up, headed by Sokka and Suki, joined by Aang and supported with necessary materials and means of transport by Zuko and Mai.

Katara stayed behind to look after the children. And to look after Toph, who by now had of course tried to ignore the healer’s orders anyways, but soon found that it wasn’t a matter of willpower this time. Her body was not cooperating. Period.

It drove her crazy and as time passed by and the chances of finding Lin became slimmer and slimmer, Toph found herself to be at her wit’s end.

She hardly slept. She only ate for the sake of her unborn child and when Katara forced her to. All of the rest of her time she spent awake in bed, as her mind went over scenario after scenario of what might have happened to Lin. One scenario worse than the other, but none of them made sense, and none of them brought her any closer to her daughter. All her hope was now focused on Sokka. He had to find her. He just _had_ to.

She ignored the rational part of her brain that told her to prepare for the worst. That in her career as Chief of Police there unfortunately had been many a time already where a child had disappeared, likely kidnapped, never to be found again. The world was big, and unlike had been the case during the 100 year war, a vast underground network had been able to establish itself, as the world had developed, had become more modern but had also increased the differences between the wealthy and the poor, fueling corruption in the Earth Kingdom and crime in Republic City, while the Water Tribes kept to themselves and the Fire Nation was still focused on reinventing itself.

When it came to navigating this world, however, Sokka was the best the world had to offer. He would find her. And as soon as she was able to leave this bed, Toph was going to join him in the search for her daughter. Pregnant or not.

But then one afternoon, Katara was just bringing her lunch, the chief of the Southern Water Tribe entered her room. While Katara registered the look on her brother’s face, Toph registered his heartbeat. And before Sokka had even uttered a word, Toph let out wail of heartbreaking pain upon realizing what he had come to tell her.

“You can’t give up! You can’t! You have to continue looking for her. You must!” She cried out. “I would do it myself if I wasn’t tied to his stupid bed. But I can’t! I can’t even set two steps without getting sick! But she- she- you need to – “ The rest of her cries turned into unintelligible sobs and wails as her chest heaved in an effort to suck in the air she needed to support her lungs producing more cries to cope with the all-consuming pain and desperation that washed over her.

“She can’t be! She is my daughter. My Lin! What did I do!? It is my fault. I should never have – I should have protected her. Where is she!? Where is she Sokka? Where is my kid!?”

Katara was next to her in an instant, holding her, rocking her back and forth. But it gave her no comfort. Nothing could bring her comfort now that her baby was missing and they had absolutely no idea where to start looking for her.

“Lin! _Lin_ where are you!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for all the relatively unannounced anxiety in this chapter, you guys :")...please forgive me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,  
> So, three things:  
> 1\. Thank you to everyone who already gave kudo's, bookmarked, subscribed to this story or left an enthusiastic comment. It is VERY much appreciated, especially since this fic will have a little bit of a different approach from the way I usually write my fanfics;  
> 2\. That brings me to my second point: This fic completely started to live a life of its own and got out of hand. But the good thing is that I have a plan, and a better idea on how to deal with bending vs. non-bending without this becoming a 40+ chapter fanfic again (because my job is just currently not allowing such a commitment, and I rather write a good multichapter fic than a super lengthy sloppy one :) );  
> 3\. Thirdly. Because I changed some things from my original plan, the good news is that we will be having Tenzin showing up in this fic MUCH EARLIER than expected, and I am super excited to get that to that point, because I really hope you will like what I have planned. I won't spoil it yet, so you'll all have to be patient. And on that note, I'm finishing this ramble, while also apologizing profusely in advance for all the angst in the chapter below.  
> So without futher ado, I present to you...chapter two! 
> 
> Please let me know in the comments what you think of this chapter; and I'm also very curious what you all think of the character I brought into this fic and the direction I took the whole thing in..
> 
> Thanks!  
> Best,  
> Metope

Hurry up! We don’t have all day!”

“I _am_ hurrying up. I can’t do this any faster, I’m not an earthbender, you know.” Lin frowned as she saw something that held the midst between amusement and triumph cross Kanyu’s face, she didn’t say anything amusing now did she?

“That’s right, you are not.” He grinned.

“Whatever.” Lin growled. Refraining from further comments that would surely get her into trouble, Lin just scowled and gave a roll of her eyes that only eleven-year-olds could give, before repositioning the large square stone she was carrying and was expected to bring to the other side of the island, where some of the others were building a new house.

The path that up until then had taken her over the beach, now led her more into the island. It was a very small island that she lived on. You could cross it from one side to the other in three hours if you ran. Officially, it belonged to the Earth Kingdom, but no one of the Earth Kingdom government had ever shown up here. They just governed themselves, like they did everything themselves.

The land was fertile so they could grow all the food they needed themselves, and together with some hybrid pigs, barrels to catch rainwater and an expedition to what they called ‘the main land’ once every month, they had everything they needed.

It was also terribly boring, if you asked Lin. She spent her days in school, and after that she was expected to help out in their community until it was time for dinner, like she was doing now. Everything was shared and done together. Always. The only moment she would be alone, was at night in her room. Her favorite time of the day...or, well…the night therefore.

School wasn’t much fun either. Next to the basics like writing and math, all they ever studied was history. They always used the same book, year in year out. It was a big book with nothing but letters. No images, nothing. Terribly boring. It told them about the 100 year war against the Fire Nation, and how a man named the Avatar had eventually brought it to an end. But things didn’t get better after that. Non-benders were still being bullied, just not only by firebenders anymore. Bending was bad and it was best that non-benders did not live among those who did bend. At least, until a solution was found.

That is why Lin was stuck on this island. Although under no circumstance was she allowed to call it ‘being stuck’ out loud. The elders would disapprove. They would say that she had been fortunate enough, had been _chosen_ , to be born on this island and that she should be grateful for that. But the truth was that Lin, with her eleven years of wisdom, longed for adventure. Or not even that, in truth, she just longed for setting foot on something else than this boring island for once in her life.

For as long as she could remember, she had been on this island. Other kids had been allowed to come along on one of the harvesting trips – as they called the monthly visit to the main land – but never her. There was always some excuse being made for why she couldn’t. If Lin didn’t know any better, she would think they didn’t _want_ her to go to the mainland. It was a ridiculous thought of course. She was much too boring and average to be the interesting enough for anyone to want to prevent her from leaving the island.

And yet, it was as if the sea kept calling her each time she walked past it. Just now, she had gotten distracted by it as well. What she wouldn’t give to know what was on the other side of the blue ocean. Surely a world that had managed to survive with benders in it for several centuries couldn’t be _that_ bad? – That was another thought however that she better never speak out loud.

Because as focused on harmony and balance and honesty and fairness as their community was, there was absolutely no room for any form of dissent. And as Lin grew older, she became aware more and more of how restrictive their lives actually were. All the families of the community lived in the same type of house in concentric circles around the village square. Every house looked the same. Every street looked the same. Lin had once suggested they could paint their house another color. It did not go over well.

On the village square, there was a large stone lectern behind which the Elders would hold their sermons every week, rotating the honor of giving it among the five of them. It didn’t matter if it rained or stormed, the sermon was held and the sermon was being held outside. As proof that they could withstand the elements even _without_ bending them, so she had been told when she once asked. They had also kindly told her not to ask such questions again or she might be seen as disrespectful.

She wasn’t sure what the elders did the rest of the day, she often saw them talking, going from meeting room to meeting room. They talked among each other and they talked with their advisors. That was another hypocrite thing about this community, Lin thought. Everyone was supposed to be equal, but those living with advisors had it better than those who were not. She was apparently lucky in that regard; but for Lin it also meant extra scrutiny on whether she was following the rules correctly. Whether she was doing her chores, paying attention in class. And whether she _never_ , absolutely _never_ missed the sermon, in particular the bestowment of honor – a hand being placed on its side between her neck and shoulder and the other pressing its thumb against her forehead for a few minutes.

The punishment of not going to the sermon was severe. There was no reason not to go and if you were sick, the sermon would come to you by one of the elders visiting you afterwards and reciting the whole thing once again.

Lin had missed it once, not so very long ago. She had been angry about not being allowed to go to the mainland and had refused to go. No matter how much Sifu K, with whom she lived, had tried to get her to come along with her. She would never make that mistake again. They had been so angry with her, she had never seen them so angry. She had blue fingerprints on the skin of her upper arm for days from where they had forcefully grabbed her and pulled her from her room towards the square. There, they had put her in front of the lectern, and in the winter cold, while she wasn’t even wearing a coat, they had ordered her to recite the most recent sermon out loud for two hours.

By the time she was done, her lips had turned blue and she couldn’t feel her hands or feet anymore. She had stumbled and fallen many times on her way back home, cracking open the skin on her knees. She still wore the scars of it. Once she had reached home, she had been wrapped in blankets and had been put in front of a fire to get warm, a cup of steaming hot tea pushed into her hands. She had vaguely registered how she had been chastised _again_ for not obeying, that she had brought this upon herself but that all of them rather hadn’t done it. But she did not care. Instead, Lin had stared into the fire unseeingly while her mind wondered and wished that she had been born elsewhere. Anywhere but here, on this suffocating island.

“Hey Lin. Are you coming with? It’s time for dinner.” She was pulled out of her thoughts by Sifu K smiling kindly at her from the street that led to their house.

Her feet had unknowingly led her to the village. With a nod, she jogged the last few meters to the place where they were building a new house, before unceremoniously dropping the heavy stone on the ground and turning around again.

“Good afternoon Sifu K.” She bowed respectfully once she reached the tall man. “I hope you had a fruitful day.”

“You don’t have to be so formal when it is just the two of us, Lin.” The man chuckled but Lin shrugged.

“Better follow all the rules of the elders. Don’t want to be left outside in the cold for two hours again just because I didn’t stick to their rules.” She countered sarcastically while she followed the older man into the street that led to their house.

The man sighed and shook his head. “What am I to do with you.”

“You are to send me on an expedition to the main land, Sifu K.” Lin tried again.

Standing still abruptly, Lin almost bumped into the man if it hadn’t been for her quick reflexes. Her eyes widened when the most trusted of Advisors to the elders whirled around and looked at her with irritation in his eyes. She had overstepped.

“You are not ready yet to go to the mainland, Lin. As long as you continue this disobedient behavior of yours, there is no chance that you are going. And for the last time, when it is just the two of us, you can call me _father_ , do you understand?”

Lin swallowed, tears brimming in her eyes. It just wasn’t fair. But she was proud, and she blinked the tears away before she nodded. “Yes, _father_.” And she made sure to look as defiant as possible when she said it.

..

_Five years earlier - a month or so after Lin had been kidnapped_

“I want my mommy!” She cried. But no matter how often she repeated her pleading, no one was listening to her. They would just ignore her until she was done with her breakdown and then ask her with cold eyes if she was done and thought she would behave if they let her join the others.

And Lin would defiantly shake her head, stomp her foot down and yell that _No_! She was _not_ going to behave with the other children. She wanted to be let go!

She wouldn’t get any dinner then, they warned her. And she would shrug. No dinner it was then. She would keep that up for as long as she could, until hands would grab her, put her in a high chair she couldn’t get out – as if she was a _baby_ – and they would force her to eat soggy bread and soup.

“You have to eat, otherwise you will get sick and die!”

“I want my mommy! I don’t want food!” She would protest, trying to call for her bending like her mother had taught her. But it was gone and it became harder and harder to call it back through meditation. These days she hardly ever could find the funny calm feeling that she needed for that.

By the end of the struggle they would have made sure that she had eaten enough bread and soup to their liking, and they would lock her in her room where she would curl in on herself on her bed, pulling the covers over her head.

With tear filled eyes she would raise her hands in front of her face and she would recite to herself her little list. “I am not supposed to be here; I love my mom; I am an earthbender; my name is Beifong; I love my aunties and uncles their names are... “

She knew there were supposed to be two more and she knew she was supposed to remember the names of her family. But she didn’t... it all seemed to be further and further away with each passing day. The first time she couldn’t remember the entire list, she had completely panicked, but by now she had accepted that she had forgotten the rest. Maybe they weren’t important. As long as she remembered her mom, her name and her bending...

It was on one of those days that the door to her room suddenly opened. And Lin had been in the middle of reciting her little list when the covers were suddenly pulled from her, revealing a tall man with black curly hair and sharp features looking back at her.

Instinctively Lin cowered away from him when he reached his hand out towards her, expecting him to be angry with her and hurt her like usually happened since she had gotten here.

“Don’t be afraid Lin. I am not here to hurt you.” His voice was kind, but his eyes were not. They didn’t hold any anger either however, and thus she decided to hear this man out.

“None of us here want to hurt you, Lin.” The man went on the explain. “You are just making it very difficult for us when you are so angry all the time and refuse to eat. We don’t want you to get sick, you know. We want you to be happy here.”

A sudden wave of new tears washed over her as she listened. “But I want my mommy, _then_ I’m happy!” She sobbed.

The face of the man grew serious now. “But you see, that is where we have a problem. I don’t think you will be happy with your mother. I think you will be happy here with us.”

“I don’t understand.” Lin sniffed, her brow furrowing. “I love my mommy!”

The man nodded. “I know you do. But she does not want what is best for you. She wants you to believe that you are an earthbender for example.”

“But I am an earthbender!” Lin countered all the while she was getting increasingly confused by this conversation.

“Are you?”

“Yes!” Her eyes were apprehensively taking in the man opposite of her while she had pushed herself against the wall, farthest away from him and hugged her knees tight to her chest

“Show me.”

Lin’s stomach dropped at that, because she hadn’t been able to bend in a while. In the beginning, she would bend, and they would get angry and they would take her to a barn and she would cry and resist whatever they were going to do. But all they ever did was place their hands between her shoulder and neck, and one time a thumb to her forehead. And that was it. But after, she wouldn’t be able to bend.

“Well? Can you bend a stone out of the wall for me?” The man pushed, and while Lin looked at him, she saw that his eyes remained calm and neutral while he asked this.

It gave her a strange sense of familiarity, enough so that she dared to admit the truth to him, muttering an embarrassed. “I can’t. I don’t know why but I can’t. At first I could, but now...”

The man just smiled at her in response. “That’s okay Lin. I didn’t expect you to be able to, since you aren’t an earthbender, see? Your mom just made you believe that you were. That’s not very fair is it?”

As Lin listened to him, it felt as if everything around her was changing in shape and color. All sorts of feelings that she could not recognize yet - disappointment, betrayal, disbelieve - fought for attention and in the end it only caused new tears to well up in her eyes. Still determined not to give up however, Lin shook her head and returned to her earlier position. “I don’t care, I want my mommy! Children belong with their mommies.”

“Or with their _daddies_.”

“I don’t have one of those.”

The man now arched an eyebrow in amusement. “How silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is _Kanto_ , Lin. Did your mommy ever mention my name to you?”

Lin shook her head.

“Did she ever say anything about who your father is? Did you ever wonder?”

At that Lin blinked in surprise. No one had ever asked her that question before, except for her friend Teki at school. When Lin had asked her mother about it, she had said that not all kids had a dad, and that was it. So what was this man now asking her exactly?

“I don’t have a dad..” She therefore hesitantly repeated.

“Your mom lied again to you, Lin. _I_ am your _father_.”

Lin shook her head wildly at that. It felt as if her head was going to explode while her brain tried to match what this man, _Kanto_ , told her with what she had always known to be true. Or _thought_ was true. “You are lying! My mom would have told me if I had a daddy. Some kids have no father!”

“All kids have a father Lin. Sometimes they aren’t living with their family, that is true. But all kids have a father. And I am yours, but your mom didn’t tell me about you, so it took me a while to hear about you and find you.”

“You are lying! You are _lying_!” Lin yelled again and fresh tears streamed down her face.

Kanto remained calm however.

“Did I lie about you not being an earthbender?” He waited a moment but when Lin didn’t respond he continued. “So why would I lie about this, hm?”

Lin remained quiet for a while, eyes trained on the wall behind him, until she spoke again, her voice wavering and heavy with tears. “I want to sleep.” And to emphasize her words, she moved away from the wall and went to lie down in her bed again, pulling the covers over her head.

“That’s ok. That was a lot of information all at once. We can continue this another day, you must have a lot of questions. Good night, Lin.” Kanto said gently, giving her upper arm a soft squeeze through the covers before she heard him walk away.

It took at least another hour before Lin finally started to drift asleep. All the time her mind was been reeling over what Kanto had just said. At six year old, she had enough intuition to feel that something was off, but not nearly enough understanding of the situation to make any sense of it. Instead, all she was left with was a profound sense of doubt. Had her mom lied to her? Was she no bender at all? But she had bent in the past, right? Mom would be so proud of her when she bent rocks….But then why didn’t it work now anymore? Maybe that had been why mommy was so stern all the time lately, because she was not a real bender after all..

A whimper of misery escaped the young girl’s lips as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

Trying to comfort herself she started to whisper her list to herself again. “My name is Lin Beifong. I am not supposed to be here; I love my mommy. I love my family; I am an earth-“

She stopped herself and let out a shuddered breath. Never mind..


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,
> 
> Bam! An almost 6k chapter, how about that!   
> Thanks for all who commented on the previous chapter, I'm glad to read you like how I involved Kanto into this story :).   
> I am also very curious to know what you think of this chapter and how you look at this version of Lin? (Check the A/N at the end for some of my thoughts on Lin).  
> Anyways, leave a comment to let me know:)!
> 
> Thanks!  
> Metope

As time progressed, Lin started to feel more and more unhappy. And with each passing day it became harder to get up in the morning and do what was expected of her.

Was this what her life was going to be? She had four more years to go before she would be done with school. And then what? Join the community officially and become a part of the ever scheming, whispering, judging women’s council? No thanks.

It was ridiculous, Lin thought. She was twelve years old and she still knew virtually nothing in life. All she knew could almost be counted on one hand. One, Her name was Lin . Two, Her father’s name was Kanto. Three, She was good at dancing. Four, She was certain that was a completely useless skill. Five. Just as useless as this boring island that she was supposed to love. Six. She didn’t have any friends here, either she thought they were stupid, or they thought she was disrespectful.

And well, maybe there was a seventh truth. Seven. Lin was increasingly certain that she did not belong on this island.

And then one day something happened. A new family arrived on the island. A man with his wife, and a son of around five years old. At first, Lin thought there was nothing special about them. Just another family that felt they had been wronged one way or another by benders and came to seek refuge. But then Lin noticed on more than one occasion how clerks of the Elders would drag the screaming boy from his class, or from his home towards one of the barns. And what was left in his wake was always something burning.

It happened again one day, right before dinner, s Lin had just finished helping preparing the food and was rinsing her hands by one of the water stations. Following the ordeal with her eyes and a frown on her face she stalled her movement. Quickly looking around her, she saw no one was paying attention to her, and so she started to follow the clerks and the crying boy.

What on earth could this boy be doing all the time that warranted these actions? Lin had been more often than not in that barn over the past year and a half. Basically every time she would be disobedient or disrespectful towards the Elders – for asking questions mind you, some of the things they were being taught just didn’t make sense.

Inside that barn there was nothing much. Just some uncomfortable chairs and a windy cold seeping in through the cracks of the wooden walls. Whenever she was sent there, her punishment would consist of sitting there, until she was cold to the bone, while she had to recite sermons over and over again. If she made a mistake it depended on the clerk overseeing her if there would be a literal slap on the wrist or not. She could take it though. _She_ had learned to not be bothered by it. But for a five year old, this seemed rather exaggerated.

Once the group had gone inside with the boy, Lin moved to the left side of the barn where she knew there was a crack in the wall through which she could watch without being seen from the inside or out if she leaned as close to the wall as possible.

Half expecting to see the boy in a similar situation as she had been, Lin’s eyes widened when instead, she saw the boy thrashing wildly with his arms and legs while sparks of fire rained from his fingertips.

A firebender, they had brough a _firebender_ onto the island! Lin realized with a shock. That was against all the rules, wasn’t it!?

So why were they punishing the boy and not the parents? Who had surely hidden this from the elders in order to get here.

“Silence!” The rumbling voice of Elder S startled Lin as well as the boy into silence. Suppressing his hiccupping and sniffling he looked up at the Elder through teary eyes.

“We have told you countless of times. You are _not_ to bend! You are _not_ a firebender, do you hear me?!”

“But I _am_ a firebender!” The boy cried out.

At the frustrated cry of the boy, Lin couldn’t help but gasp, as she abruptly pushed herself away from the barn, stumbling backwards and nearly falling over her own feet, all the while flashes of her younger self in the barn and with her father crossed her mind. Flashes of memories she didn’t know she possessed.

_“But I am an earthbender!”_

_“Are you?”_

_“Yes!”_

_“I didn’t expect you to bend Lin, you aren’t an earthbender. Your mommy lied to you.”_

Lin felt nauseous, she had to get away from here. She didn’t understand what was happening in that barn or what she had just seen, and she wasn’t all that sure that she wanted to know. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and ran back to the common house where they had dinner each evening. When her father later asked if she was feeling alright because she looked white as a sheet, she wordlessly nodded and focused on the food in front of her.

That night she had a restless sleep full of nightmares that she couldn’t remember the next morning but which had exhausted her nonetheless.

The next day, her eyes involuntarily kept searching and finding the boy amidst the other kids at school. He didn’t bend, he didn’t cry anymore either. Instead he had a dull and tired look in his eyes, a look that resembled her own gaze strikingly well whenever she would look in the mirror.

Lin tried to take her mind off the topic, but that proved to be harder than she thought. To make matter worse, the nightmares didn’t stick to that one night. She continued to have bad dreams that kept her up half of the night and exhausted her for the other half. Her father had noticed it too and had asked repeatedly if she was alright or wanted to talk about it.

But the problem was, Lin couldn’t talk about it even though by now, she _did_ remember what the dreams were about once she woke up. She always had the same dream and she was sure that if she would reveal its contents to her father, he would sign her up for even more history and society classes than she already had.

For in her dreams she would wake up in the middle of a big park. After a few minutes of taking in her surroundings she would get the feeling that something was going to attack her. Instinctively she would raise her hands in front of her. And then she would.... _bend_ the _earth_.

It was complete madness. And if she told this to her father he would definitely not appreciate it. Especially since a bloodbender had been making the Kingdom unsafe recently, the Elders had become even more rigid and disapproving of the outside world than they had already been.

On top of that, that wasn’t the only thing Lin would dream about. She would always wake up when a woman’s voice would start calling her name. The voice sounded familiar somewhere, triggering something in the back of her mind but she couldn’t quite tell what it was. She did have the distinct feeling however that she was supposed to know this woman.

And that is where the true dilemma started. Because, as much as she was convinced that telling her father about the dreams would be a bad idea, the only possible solution Lin could come up with about whom this voice would belong to, was that it was the voice of her mother. And the only one who could confirm that, would be her father.

Lin had no recollection whatsoever about her mother and no one in the village seemed to have truly known her mother either. When she would ask about her, they would all try to change the subject or suddenly had to be somewhere. Her father had said her mother had abandoned them soon after she had given birth to Lin. Not because there was anything wrong with Lin, he had reassured her. But because she herself knew she was utterly unfit to be a mother.

Lin didn’t know what to think of that. Why have a child in the first place if that was the case, she thought.

“Daydreaming again?”

The voice shook her out of her musings, and looking up she found Kanyu standing opposite of her. He was one of the clerks working with her father and he found himself to be all that much because of it.

“No,” Lin countered. “You were supposed to help me prepare lunch for the group but you didn’t show up and I wasn’t going to do it alone, so I was _waiting_.”

“Cooking is a woman’s job.”

“I’ll be sure to tell that to Sifu K tonight. See what he says.”

The man’s eyes darkened at that. Lin wasn’t sure what it was, but this man hated her and the fact that Kanto was her father didn’t help for some reason.

“I am here now, am I?” He bit out before roughly pushing past her towards the kitchen counter and grabbing some vegetables. “Let’s begin.”

Lin let out a deep exhausted sigh. “Let’s indeed.” Yet another stupid vegetable meal, she thought..

That night, she found herself back in the same dream as usual. Fear spread itself through her chest as her hands accidentally bent the earth. This wasn’t right. She wasn’t supposed to be able to do this. But as she set a few steps back, she suddenly became aware that she could sense things on the earth through her feet. Well _that_ was new. In a panic she let herself fall back against a stone and lifted her feet off the ground to make it stop.

Where was the woman’s voice? She wanted this to be over. She wanted to wake up. She really needed to-

“Wake up! - Lin, wake up!”

Waking up with a gasp and flying up into a sitting position, her green eyes stared into the worried amber ones of her father, whose hands were resting on her shoulders, having softly shaken them moments before.

Without saying a word, she leaned into her father, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder as she tried to catch her breath and regain her footing.

To her relief, her father responded by wrapping his arms around her too, one hand rubbing soothing circles over her back. It wasn’t often that Lin felt the need to be comforted by her father. It was even less often that her father would indulge her when she _did_ ask for it - the rules this community lived by were just rather formal and rigid.

But Lin was happy that her father seemed to sense that this time she really needed it.

“Hey there, I heard you screaming all the way from my room. What’s wrong with my otherwise so brave daughter? What are those dreams you have been having for the past weeks?” Kanto gently asked after a while, and as Lin pulled away from her father a little, she bit on her lower lip as she debated what to do.

“You can tell me anything, Lin. I won’t get mad, I promise. I just want to help you.”

Well, but that was the thing, the people in this place had a very strange understanding of helping sometimes, Lin thought. At the same time, she realized that if she wanted answers to anything at all, she had to open up to someone, and of all the people here she trusted her father the most.

“The new family that arrived...” She therefore started, deciding to begin with that part and staying away from her mother for now. “...their son has been having difficulty adjusting.”

Kanto nodded. “Yes, but luckily the Elders are there to help them. Is that what has been worrying you?”

“Yes..no...well...” Lin stammered hesitantly before taking a deep breath and blurting it all out. “I followed them the other day before dinner. I- I was curious. I saw him _bend_ fire, dad! And- and now I have nightmares in which _I_ am bending _earth_ every night and it scares me. Please don’t be mad at me dad. I know bending is bad...I know it is dangerous…I’m just...confused!”

For a split second, Lin saw a shadow cross her father’s face and she was sure he was going to be angry with her, but then he smiled an understanding smile at her, although but his eyes weren’t as warm and calm anymore as they had been. Lin instantly wondered if she had made a mistake.

“That is impossible Lin, there aren’t any benders here.”

“Yes but-“ she tried but her father didn’t leave her any room to speak.

“You must have gotten confused by what the boy has been telling everyone. He indeed _believes_ that he is a bender, but he isn’t. That is why he is here and we are here to help him. So don’t you worry Lin. We will protect all of you against the benders and one day, it will be safe for us again. You don’t have to worry that you will ever bend, Lin.”

At that Lin frowned. “I know that...I know that _I_ am not a bender..” she added though a seed of hesitation planted itself in her mind when her father nodded nervously and smiled a fake smile at her again. “Of course, you are right. Was that all?”

Nothing what her father was saying seemed logical. She knew what she had seen. She wasn’t crazy, but her father seemed determined not to take her seriously, while also jumping to conclusions. Not once had she thought _she_ would ever bend, she was just scared of the dreams in which she did.

Still, despite the feeling that her father wasn’t being honest with her, Lin did feel that this was one of the rare occasions in which she felt closer to her father, and in which she felt like her father was truly listening to her.

“I heard about the blood bender. Is that why I still can’t go off the island?” She then blurted out. She hadn’t planned on mentioning it, but it suddenly felt like the right time to ask.

Her father sighed at that. “This again, Lin?”

“Well, I just don’t understand. All other kids my age have gone already. And I for one think that Imiku is much less responsible than I am and even _she_ got to go once already.” Lin countered, getting her heart into the discussion now.

“Yes but Lin -“

“It is dangerous out there, I know. It is just...is this all what my life is going to be, dad? Is this all of it? On this island that I know every corner of already? If the world is as big as everyone says it is, isn’t it strange then that so many people live out there without dying and that we can go there every month, but for _me_ it is too dangerous and I have to stay on this tiny island!?”

“Are you really that unhappy here?”

The question took her off guard, especially due to the genuine concern sounding through in her father’s voice, a certain sadness now also visible in his eyes.

Lin instantly felt bad for her outburst. “I- I don’t know..” she stammered.

With a deep sigh Kanto now got up from the side of the bed. “I’ll see if I can talk to the Elders, alright?”

Lin blinked in surprise. “Really!?” She asked hopeful and her father nodded.

“Yes, but only if you go back to sleep now.”

She obediently went to lie down at that, and after Kanto had pressed a kiss in her hair and turned the lights off again, she called a genuine “thanks dad!” after him just before he left her room.

When her room was dark again, and silence had returned to the house. Lin let out a deep sigh. She hadn’t dared asking about her mother, but maybe she wouldn’t have to. Maybe she was just seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe after tomorrow, she would finally be allowed to leave this island and after all, that was what she wanted, right? Maybe she could leave the rest for what it was then.

The following morning she found herself to be in a good mood, almost skipping downstairs - mind the _almost_ , she still had a reputation as moody teen to uphold.

“You’re in a better mood, I see.”

She nodded brightly at her father. “Will you be asking the Elders today already? - You know, about if I can finally go. I know I haven’t been on model behavior exactly the past months, but I will change that, I promise.” She added, when her father didn’t reply right away.

When he did, Lin had a hard time not to look too disappointed.

“Oh Lin, about that...I will ask of course, I will go right away after finishing my breakfast in fact, but you mustn’t get your hopes up. The chances are slim...”

Lin wanted to yell at _why_? at him and stomp her feet in frustration. Everyone got to go, so why not her? But she knew it would lead to nothing, and for a change, she managed to keep her temper under control and simply nodded, her eyes downcast.

“I understand.”

“Great.” Kanto smiled, seemingly not noticing the change in her demeanor, before he got up. “Well I better get going then. I will see you tonight again, okay?”

Again Lin nodded as she watched him leave the house. Later, she would think back to this moment, and she wouldn’t be able to tell what it had been exactly, but something made her decide to follow her father to his meeting.

The moment she saw her father turn left towards the barns instead of right to the council room, she knew she had made the right decision.

Waiting until her father had gone inside, she quickly ran to the side of the barn again without being seen, where she leaned against the wall and looked through the crack in the wood.

Inside, she saw her father and three of the Elders.

“Why is it that you have called us together this early, Advisor K?” Elder S asked, an annoyed expression on his face.

“It is Lin, Elder S.” Her father said.

“What about her? Has she been disobedient again?”

“She is unhappy. I - she, she saw you with the firebending boy. It triggered nightmares, or memories, I’m not sure. But she told me she is _earthbending_ in them. She is scared of it still, so I was able to put her mind to rest again. But the point remains that she is twelve years old now and she is getting bored and starts to ask far too many questions. I- she needs a distraction, like being allowed to go on one of the harvesting trips.”

“That is out of the question.” Elder B immediately countered.

“The risk that she will break the chi-block is too big.” Elder M agreed.

“Besides, _they_ are still looking for her. We cannot be sure that they will find a lead if someone on the mainland ever sees her and recognizes her. Those green eyes she inherited from her mother are quite striking.” Elder S added.

Lin had to use all of her willpower not to gasp out loud at the conversation. Her heart rate picking up as her mind worked hard to make sense of what she was hearing.

Kanto shook his head in response. “With all due respect Elders, but I don’t understand it. This place was supposed to make Lin happy, _happier_ than she would have been with her bending mother. But her eyes are dull and tired always and I see the parts of her character that make her _her_ slowly dim with each passing day and every punishment. There isn’t enough to grasp her attention on this island.”

“That is just the chi blocking.” One said.

“Which we cannot skip. Her bending is too strong for that. We have seen that in the past.”

“Yes but -“

“Enough, Advisor K!” Elder S now said loudly.

“It was your own decision to bring your bending daughter to this place. You know what the consequences would be. Until we have found a more permanent way to take bending away, she will have to have her chi blocked every week, she cannot leave the island, and most importantly she must stay unaware of all of this. Is that understood?”

She saw her father’s shoulder sag before he nodded and muttered a quiet “yes Elder S.”

Lin didn’t wait for what was to come next, instead she ran back home, completely in panic. Once inside she pushed the door shut and leaned against it, a loud whimper of misery escaping her lips.

She hadn’t been crazy in her dreams. She _was_ an earthbender and the voice, could the voice really belong to her mother? Was she part of the ‘ _they_ ’ that the Elders had referred to and whom were still looking for her? Was that why she wasn’t allowed to go to the mainland?

With a groan Lin went to sit down at the table, holding her head in her hands as her brain tried to work it out. What was true and what was not?

She didn’t hear the door opening because of it. Only looking up through tearfilled eyes when her father asked in surprise why she was still home.

Not feeling the strength or clarity to come up with a believable lie she answered. “I followed you. I heard _everything_. What have you done to me? Who are you? Are you even my father?!”

Her father stood frozen, glued to the floor for at least a minute and Lin just stared back at him with angry eyes the whole time.

“Sit down.” He eventually said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“I already am.” She quipped but he ignored it. Instead sitting down at the table opposite of her.

“First, I want you to know that everything I have done so far, is for your own good and that I didn’t lie. I am your father, and I am the parent who has your best interest at heart, not your mother.” Kanto started and Lin scoffed.

“But I _am_ an earthbender, and my mom did _not_ abandon me, so you _did_ lie.”

Kanto pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger and sighed. It was something he always did when Lin was getting on his nerves. Well, too bad, Lin thought. She deserved to be on his nerves after what she had just heard.

“Look, Lin, the world isn’t fair. For non-benders there are fewer chances in life, fewer ways in which we can defend ourselves, protect ourselves. We can determine less. We are always subject to the will and likes of the benders, and more often than not the collateral damage of their own bending wars. At first I didn’t see it and I couldn’t quite put my finger on this uneasy feeling I lived with. But then I met Elder S and he opened my eyes.

Together we are working on a way to make all of us equal and to erase bending from the world. That is the _only_ way forward. A lot of benders would never understand this, your mother would never understand this. The fact that she never even bothered to tell me about you is so telling! I only found out about you after you had been born already. You are half mine, I want you to have a place in this new order we will create. As a _non_ -bender. You will be happier growing up like this than when you would have to learn to live without your bending later in life when we have found a way. Do you see, Lin? I did this for _you_ , to give you a better life.”

Lin watched as her father looked at her with truly hopeful eyes. And all she could do was shake her head slowly, eyes wide and perplexed. “So you what...you kidnapped me?”

“I am your father. It isn’t kidnapping.”

And it was the sheer seriousness with what he said this that made her explode.

“You are absolutely crazy! Do you even _hear_ yourself!? How is this -“ and she gestured wildly in the space around her. “ _any_ of this a better life than whatever is out there!? How is this ever going to contribute to changing anything? You are just as cruel as the stories you teach us about benders! But you don’t hurt us physically, you hurt us mentally! Brainwashing children, kidnapping them, punishing us when we as little as pause at the wrong part in the sentence of a sermon. How is any of that something to take an example after?!”

Her father seemed taken aback by her sudden outburst which only fueled her anger. Had he really thought she would buy all this? That she would believe it all? After what she had just heard, and what she had seen them doing to the boy, and how it all added up with her dreams?

“I _am_ an earthbender whether you like it or not! I am sorry you didn’t get that skill, we can’t all have it!” She snarled and it seemed as if her words made something snap inside of her father as his face contorted in anger.

“ _Are_ you now? Watch your words, young lady. Right now you can’t even make as much as a pebble tremble if you wanted to. You may have been able to bend things in the past, but you are _not_ an earthbender. I made sure of that!”

Lin shook her head, she suppressed the urge to engage in what would become a back and forth argument. That was exactly what he would want her to do, she realized, because then it would become an argument she would never be able to win.

“And my mother?” She therefore asked. “Where is she? Does she know what happened to me? Who is she? Why don’t I remember her?”

“You don’t remember anything from your life from before I found you because we made sure you wouldn’t. You don’t think I’m really going to tell you anything about her now, are you?” Her father spit angrily.

Lin stared back at her father in stunned silence. There had been a lot of times, in which she would wonder how she could be related to this man, but never did she feel this so fiercely as right now. It is true that she looked like him, she saw it in the sharp cheekbones, her length and the way in which her hair curled similarly. She also saw it in her stubbornness and in the way they both preferred peace and quiet after a time with a lot of social interaction. From those elements, she knew he was her father, and she loved him _because_ he was her father.

But right now, in this moment, she also realized that this man was really nothing more than just that: her father in the most narrow sense of the world. With whom she, apart from those few character traits, actually had nothing in common and who would never understand where she was coming from, just like he didn’t understand her. How else, would he not see how _extremely_ problematic everything was that he had just said?

He had given her so much information just now, and at the same time so little. Had she really been kidnapped? How did this chiblock work exactly? What even _was_ a chi block and how could she make its effects undone? Who was she really, and who was her mother? 

And then Lin got an idea. “If you want me to stay, you will tell me about my mother, yes. And I don’t say that to hurt you, dad.” Changing her tone from confronting and angry to pleading she continued. “I love you dad, I want to stay with you. You are my family. I may not understand everything yet, but I want to try to. It- it is just a lot. And I feel like I _really_ need the answers. If I can’t get them from you, I feel like I’ll have to go elsewhere, but if you can tell me, then… _then_ I can just stay here. Safe, with you...”

She tried to sound as genuine as possible, while gagging on the inside at her fake flattery. She saw Kanto tried to figure out as well whether she was genuine or not. And so she added.

“It’s like you said, dad. I am half yours, but I really just want to know who the other half of me is. I know what I just said about our community isn’t nice, but I was just angry. I- I am sorry about that.” Hopefully that would do it, because there was no way she would be able to add more to this charade without breaking her role.

But Kanto nodded slowly to her delight, his eyes taking on a lighter shade as relief settled in them. He believed her. “I think you are right, you need some more information about your life. It is part of who you are, and you will need it to realize how fortunate you are to be here. I will discuss it with the Elders again.”

Lin rolled her eyes. “Yes because that went over so well the first time.” She quipped without being able to help herself. It earned her a sharp look from her father.

“If you want anything to change in your life, I suggest you stop with the smart-mouthing.”

Lin schooled her features at that, folding her hands on her back as she did. “Yes father.”

Kanto sighed. “I am truly sorry for having kept this so long from you, Lin. I really hope we can work this out. I - I have to get to work now, and you to school. But maybe we can continue our talk this evening?”

Lin nodded and smiled sweetly at her father. “Of course, dad. See you tonight.”

Her father sent her one more studying look before he gave a silent nod in response and got up from the table. “See you in the evening then. Don’t dawdle too much before you go to school. And Lin?”

He turned around in the door opening to look at her. “I love you, and I trust you.”

Lin had to bit the inside of her cheek to keep her features in check as she gave a respectful nod and a polite “You can, dad.”

It felt like ages, but in reality it could have only been a minute or two until she was sure her father had truly left. With a loud sob she fell on her knees as the adrenaline in her body left her instantly. Leaning forward she held her head with her hands as tears wrecked her frame and panic coursed through her in violent waves.

No matter how she tried, she couldn’t stop herself and only once her voice had turned hoarse from crying and her breathing was calmer aside from the occasional hiccup, did she dare to move from her position on the floor and look at the time.

Three in the afternoon. That would give her 2 hours until everyone would gather to prepare dinner and her dad to return from work.

She had to go. And she had to go now.

There was no way the Elders would be okay with sharing information about her mother. If they had gone through all the trouble they had so far, there was just not a chance that they would be willing to give in now. If anything they would punish her father for having been honest with her in the first place. That is, if he _had_ been honest.

Because he may have said that he trusted her, but _she_ most definitely didn’t trust him. And if the answers couldn’t be found on this island, then there was no use in waiting around for her father to return.

She would go and find the answers elsewhere.

Half an hour later, she found herself hiding behind the bushes that formed a natural border with the beach. In her bag she had packed the few possessions she had - some sanitary products, a second set of clothing, and a bracelet made of some weird dark stone. She had always had it, she had no idea where it came from and she remembered her father had looked funny and on edge at her when had noticed she had it. At the time she had been eight years old when he had asked her where she had found it. And when she truthfully and innocently answered that she didn’t know but that she thought it was so very pretty, the funniest of looks had crossed his face before he had nodded that she could keep it. Even though she had been so young at the time, she remembered it vividly because of how nervous her father had been. With the knowledge she had now, that memory suddenly took on a whole different meaning. And so, the bracelet was coming.

Lin adjusted her position beside the bushes so that she could sit more comfortably. Now all she had to do was wait for dusk to set. Then she would steal one of the one-man boats and go. She had watched the others often enough to know how to operate it.

“Time to find out the truth, Lin.” She whispered to herself as she took in a deep breath. Looking down at her hands, she realized that for the first time since she could remember, she could not name a list of certainties in her life, aside from _one_ , her name was Lin. Or so she hoped..

..

_Five years earlier_

“Hey Lin, did you have a good time at Sifu V’s?” Kanto asked his seven year old daughter who came barreling in right before dinner.

The girl nodded happily, cheeks flustered with the excitement of the day. “We played that Lee was the bender trying to destroy everything and I was the savior!” She exclaimed happily. “And then Lee’s mommy, Sifu A made us a snack and it was really good.”

Kanto nodded, amused at his daughter’s excitement.

“Daddy? - do I have a mommy too?”

The question took him aback. This was the first time Lin brought the topic of her mother up ever since she had stopped asking for Toph nearly a year ago.

“What do you mean, Lin?” He asked carefully, and he saw the girl shrug. Her curly hair bouncing on her shoulders as she did.

“I don’t know.” She replied honestly, “Lee says everyone has a mother, but I don’t think I have one, right?”

Ah, Kanto thought to himself and he felt relief settle. She didn’t remember, quite the opposite, she was approaching the matter as something she didn’t know anything about yet. Something new that wasn’t clear to her in her life. This life, with her father. Not the previous one of which she truly seemed to no longer hold any memory.

And therefore Kanto just smiled at her. “Your mom left when you were born here, Lin. She wasn’t really good at being a mom. So no, Lin. You don’t have a mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it! I got her aaaaalmost out of the creepy cult!! But poor Lin, she must be so confused. I try to keep her as much 'in character' as possible, given that we practically know nothing of Lin as a child, and since I took her out of her canon growin up story, it is become a little bit of a nature-nurture challenge to determine what of Lin's character traits are nutured by external circumstances, and what is inherently part of her nature. In this regard I imagine the quick thinking, no nonsense mentality, sarcasm and her being a bit of a loner to be part of nature. I also decided to make Lin a good dancer (although it doesn't feature heavily in this chapter), because I thought in this hypocritical pacificst cult, dancing seems to the most 'harmless' way in which her natural talent for earthbending (even though blocked) might shine through..


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, 
> 
> I'm spoiling you all by updating again! It's just that all your comments got me so excited and motivated to write more that I already finished the next chapter! I decided to weave a little bit of Toph's/the Gaang's POV into it. That will make it easier to merge everyone together later if *some day* Lin finds her way back home!
> 
> Let me know what you think of this chapter! Curious to read what your theories are of what will happen to Lin next (I'm fairly certain none of you are going to guess it though haha).
> 
> Thanks again for all the support you've shown me in this new story already ^^!  
> Best,  
> Metope

She was just pushing the boat into the water when she heard them behind her.

“What are you doing, Lin?”

As if she was stung by a bee she turned around to stand face to face with her father and Kanyu not far behind him.

“I saw you sneaking off earlier, so when you didn’t show up in the kitchens I decided to warn Sifu K.” The clerk said with a triumphant smile.

Ignoring him, Lin directed her attention to her father, whom she expected to be angry but just looked with immense disappointment at her instead. Somehow, that still managed to make her feel guilty and she realized that she couldn’t do much else than speak the truth. “ _Please_ let me go. This place isn’t for me, dad. You say you want me to be happy, well, here I will never be!”

Kanto held her gaze for the longest of times without saying a word, but just as Lin wanted to ask if he ever thought of answering, he opened his mouth to speak.

“When Kanyu informed me that you had run off, the first thing I wanted to do was gather some of my clerks to help me return you. I would drag you if I had to. But the Elders forbid it. I didn’t understand it at first, but I do now. You might very well be beyond help.”

Lin shivered involuntarily under the cold stare that had entered in her father’s eyes. Gone was the man who had taken care of her for the past years. Instead he became one with all the other elders and advisors and clerks. Just Sifu K, cold hearted, calculated, and cruel.

“It is up to you. If you want to go, go. But I won’t tell you a thing. You’ll be completely on your own out there. No resources, no home, no one to turn to.”

“I will manage. I don’t need your help.” She challenged him.

“It is a mistake.” Kanto continued. “But just know, that once you realize that it is, you don’t have to come crawling back here. If you decide to leave on that boat tonight, that will also be the moment you will cease to exist as my daughter.”

His face was stoic as he said this, and Lin took a sharp intake of breath at her father’s words. She hadn’t expected it to, but her father’s rejection cut deeper than she would like to admit. For as long as she could remember, her father had been the one who was there for her. Apparently she cared more about that than she had thought.

Balling her hands into fists, she pushed the pang of regret and insecurity away however. She needed answers and to take control of her own life. That meant she had to go.

“So be it then.” She whispered, before turning around and pushing the boat further into the water. The shore was short and she only had to push it two meters before it was floating by itself in the sea and she could climb on board.

After she had done so and turned around, she saw that her father and Kanyu were still standing there. The former emotionless, the second with a triumphant look on his face.

“Goodbye dad, I - I love you!” She called on impulse and she found the words to be true. Her father responded by turning his back towards her and walking back towards the village. That too, hurt more than she had expected and Lin let out a shuddered breath.

She was truly alone now then. Her father didn’t want her anymore and her mother was still one big question mark.

..

Toph listened to her young daughter playing with the little stone dolls she had bent herself. Six years old. Just as old as Lin had been. Although comparing them would be like comparing day and night. Suyin looked less like Toph, or so she was told, but from the inside, from the mere rhythm of her heart, Toph could tell that in character her youngest was more alike. Maybe that’s why she had been giving her mother such a hard time during the pregnancy. She wasn’t known to give people an easy time either.

Holding two hands full of clay, Suyin now turned towards her mother. “Will you play with me, mommy? We can bend things together.”

Toph smiled. “ I guess I have some time for that before I have to go to the station.” She nodded. “You go first.”

Suyin beamed at that, her heartrate picking up in excitement. Too much excitement for a child simply asking to play with her mother, Toph thought. But truth was, Toph didn’t have that much time to play with her daughter these days. Or in any case, she didn’t make the time, she thought guiltily.

There was just so much to be done these days. So much crime to be fought. And with every triad that they caught, every lone wolf they found and every kidnapper they arrested, Toph would still harbor the hope that perhaps this time they would know something about Lin. That they would have a lead. But they never did.

Her officers knew to always ask the question. Once, she had found out that an officer had neglected to do so. She had absolutely lost it. They never made the mistake of skipping the question again. She knew they were just humoring her, but she didn’t care. She had earned their respect fair and square on every count, and so she had earned the right for them to humor her on this.

Meanwhile nearly everyone in her family had tried talking to her about it at some point. Sokka by saying that they would always keep looking, but that she had to continue with her life in the moments that they were not. He clearly didn’t understand that she was never not looking – the irony of the choice of words not being lost on her there. Zuko had carefully brought up the fact that if even his intelligence units could not track her down, the question if Lin was still even alive was now on the table as well. She had nearly brought the entire palace down as he had said this, unable to keep control of her bending as anger had overtaken her.

And lastly, Katara had pointed out that she mustn’t let the loss of Lin impact how she parented Suyin. Well, too late. Toph knew she was showing less of her warm and vulnerable side to Suyin, the loss of Lin made it somehow impossible to show that side to anyone again. Besides, Suyin seemed unfazed by it, not knowing differently and on top of that being less sensitive than Lin had been as a child anyways. Lin would cling to her as a toddler, demand her attention and affection. Needing that of her mother first before she dared to branch out to be social towards others. For Suyin it was quite the other way around. Her little Rock would first seek out everyone and everything around her wherever they were before she would circle back to her mother, almost as a last resort. Toph was fine with that, grateful even that the spirits at least sent her a more independent child the second time around while she was still dealing with the grief over losing her first born, and would always be.

She really wasn’t one to wallow or to dwell on things. But just like she hadn’t expected how much she loved being a mother, she hadn’t expected how earthshattering losing a child would be. Everything was forever coated in a layer of dull, suffocating dread. And she had gotten on with her life, make no mistake there. She did so for Suyin’s sake as well as her own mental sanity. And she loved Suyin. But with Lin she had loved with every _fiber_ of her being. With Suyin she loved to the fullest of her capacity. And those two things were just not quite the same thing anymore ever since the unthinkable had happened.

They had conducted several search missions after Lin had gone missing. It had been in all the newspapers, Zuko had put his intelligence units on it. But there was no trace of her. It was maddening.

So now, every summer she would go on a mission to find Lin. Before, Toph had hardly ever taken days off, but now she took off a month each summer. Suyin thought they were merely going on holiday and enjoying time away, as thought her officers. But her family knew that in reality she was just scoping out another part of the world to see if that was where Lin was hiding maybe. By now, she had had almost all corners of the Earth Kingdom, which both paradoxically narrowed and increased her chances of finding Lin. The number of places she could be in diminished, but so did the likeliness that she would be found.

By now, It had been six years and Toph hoped she would still be able to recognize her daughter. That the way she walked, talked and moved and breathed hadn’t changed - _if_ she still breathed…

“Mom! You aren’t even looking!” Suyin’s indignant voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

“That’s because I’m _blind_ , silly.” She joked.

“You know what I mean.” The girl pouted then pushing her bent creation in her mother’s hands. “Look.”

Feeling the earth in all its forms as soon as it touched her finger tips, Toph gasped as the shape of a girl with half curling hair in an earth kingdom tunic became known. “You made...”

“I made my sister! From the pictures!” Suyin cried happily, not aware in the slightest of the conflicting emotions coursing through her mother upon her creation that was both so sweet and so cruel.

Toph swallowed. “That is - that is very sweet of you, Suyin.” She tried to sound genuine.

“Now it’s your turn.” Suyin nodded contently.

Toph smiled. “Let’s see....”

Far away, at the Northern Water Tribe Sokka was making his way back to his ships. He had just come from several days of meetings with the Northern Water Tribe Chief to discuss how someone as terrible as the bloodbender Yakone had been able to run freely for so long, while both his Tribe and the Northern one had banned bloodbending years ago. The conversations had been strained, just like the relationship between the tribse continued to be.

With an annoyed expression Sokka marched onto the docks, his advisors and Suki in tow. They had stationed their ships in the farthest corner of the docks, outside the city walls. He knew his advisors didn’t understand it, but Sokka had always had a certain adversity again the Northern Tribe ever since he had set foot in it as a teenager. They hadn’t exactly been welcomed then, and that hadn’t changed since then. Best to keep their ships outside the walls therefore, ready to leave whenever necessary.

Finally reaching the ships, he frowned when his eyes fell onto an odd looking sailing boat on his left. Asking one of his benders to push the water away, Sokka walked onto the still soggy sand towards the boat.

Its mast was broken in a way that told him that whomever had been navigating this ship had had no clue of what they had been doing. His eyes quickly scanned his surroundings, checking if there was be a body floating anywhere. When he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary he turned his attention back to the boat.

Tied to the foot of the pole was a small bag. Moving to untie it from the pole, Sokka accidentally ripped the damaged fabric of the bag, spilling the soaked contents on the ground.

More fabric – probably clothes – a toothbrush and...he gasped out loud upon seeing the third item.

It caused Suki to run up to him, resting her arm on his back as she watched over his crouched down form to see what he was doing.

“Do you recognize that?” Sokka asked, pointing at the item in front of him. His wife was silent beside him for a while as she tried to remember where she had seen a similar item before.

“Doesn’t Toph have a bracelet like that?”

Sokka nodded.

“What is it made of? I have always wondered but never asked.”

“It is - it is part of a meteorite that...I - I forged my sword with it and then gave Toph some of the leftover material. She turned it into a bracelet. It is _unique_ , one of a kind.” Sokka breathed as he stared with wide eyes at the bracelet.

“Later, she bent it into two bracelets. One for herself and one for...”

“Lin!” Suki exclaimed. “Oh my, Sokka! But if we found it here. Does that mean...” Suki didn’t dare finish her sentence and Sokka was grateful for that.

Pulling himself back together his face took on a determined expression as he put the items back in the ripped bag, sticking the bracelet in the pocket of his coat as he stood up. “I don’t know Suki, but we must get to Republic City as soon as possible. That is one thing I am sure of. Toph needs to know this. It may not be much of a lead, the sea water will have washed away any traces, but it is a sign that Lin is still out there. It is a sign of hope.”

..

A little further south and a lot farther east, a trembling shivering Lin made her way into the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. She had been walking for at least a week in nothing more than the soaked clothes she had been wearing when she left.

It seemed like another world now when she had left the island. “And when you were stupid enough to think you could navigate a boat in the dark without ever having done so in your life.” She muttered angrily to herself.

She knew she was lucky she had survived to tell the tale as her boat had capsized out on open sea. Somehow she had managed to swim to a large piece of wood that she could climb on top of and had let herself be pushed to the shore by the sea. All those punishments outside in the cold air on the island suddenly paying off as the sea water was ridiculously cold. She had hoped that maybe the remains of the boat and maybe even her bag would float the same way, but that hadn’t been the case. So gone were her clothes, and gone was her special bracelet, her only possible lead on who her mother was.

Disheartened, cold and scared she had eventually started to make her way more inland. Along the way she had passed a village or two and she was embarrassed having to admit that she had stolen some food from some of the farmers there, sleeping in their barns at night and getting up before the sun was up. She just didn’t dare to sit still, what if her father had changed his mind?

After the first night, when she had been too focused on getting warm and finding a place to sleep. She had experienced her first full panic attack as realization hit her that she was all alone in a world she knew nothing about, without her belongings and no clue where to go.

The next day she heard two men on the road say to one another that they were going to Ba Sing Se and _that_ sounded familiar. That was a town she had heard one of the clerks mention sometimes. Unsure what else to do, she decided that was where she would go.

And now she was here. With her mouth slightly agape in awe she walked through the streets filled with dirt and mud. The smell was hard to deal with, as was the amount of people walking crisscross through the streets, yelling at one another, creating a chaos of people, sounds and smells like Lin had never experienced before. But what caught her most of guard were the benders. A woman cleaning a porch by bending the water, a guy roasting some meat by bending fire, and no one looked up, no one looked afraid. These people didn’t look dangerous at all either.

“Hey! Watch your step, missy!” An angry voice suddenly sounded right after Lin had bumped into something. Or rather, someone, she realized as she looked up in the angry face of a large woman. Her hair stood out to all sides under the odd looking bonnet she had on. Her clothes were torn and filthy.

“I- I’m sorry madam.” Lin quickly said. “I- I wasn’t paying attention.”

Instead of accepting her apology the woman leaned forward towards her, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized her. “ _Madam_?! Are you making fun of me? You little brat!? You don’t look too fancy yourself either!”

Lin’s eyes widened. “No, no!” She replied quickly. “I’m sorry! I - I was just distracted by the lady over there waterbending.”

The woman followed Lin’s pointed finger and scoffed. “’ _Madam’_ , ‘ _lady’._..you are a weird one. No need to call such an attention seeker something as fancy as a _lady_. She isn’t better than anyone just because she is a bender, you know?”

Lin frowned. “I didn’t say that...non-benders are more resourceful, more resilient and smarter.” Her hand flew up to her mouth in surprise as soon as she had said it. It had just blurted out, the mantra she had been made to repeat over and over again back home…which...maybe she shouldn’t be calling home anymore either.

The woman eyed her suspiciously again, before nodding slowly. “Yeah...you are right. We _are_ smarter than they are. _She_ wouldn’t know how to go about cleaning a floor if she didn’t have her little tricks. But _I_ do.” The woman exclaimed.

Lost in her own triumph, Lin made use of the moment to escape from her attention and ran past her. Looking up, she noticed only now that she could only see the sky and the sun through a thin layer of beige fog. That was what probably causing the smell to hang around too.

Based on the point in the sky where the sun was, she judged that she had four more hours to find herself something to eat and a place to sleep before it would get too dark. That turned out to be less difficult than when she had been in the villages, as there were food stands everywhere and it was easy to snatch some fruit and a few nuts here and there.

At the same time, the city was a lot scarier than the villages or the island. The streets here were truly filthy, vermin running around the sides of the street and in the gutters and allies. And it was going to be one of those allies in which she was going to be forced to sleep tonight, Lin realized. There was no park to be found wherever she looked, so no tree to climb in or sleep under. She saw more and more people – looking poor, angry and underfed – settle down against and under boxes and dumpsters.

Her stomach dropped at the thought. As dusk settled in, an unsafe feeling settled in her stomach and for the first time since she had left she wished she was home, lying in her own bed right now. Wrapping her arms around her own frame she tried to draw some support from within her, but it only caused her to curl more into herself as she wandered through the streets that turned darker and darker.

“Hey there, you, are you alright?”

Lin’s head whipped to the direction where the question had come from, her body language mirroring how on edge she felt. It took her brain a while therefore to register that it was a woman calling her from her porch. Her eyes didn’t hold the apprehension in them like the eyes of the woman she had bumped into earlier. Instead, these were kind eyes filled only with curiosity and concern.

“Are you lost?”

Wordlessly, Lin nodded, not trusting herself to speak for she might very well burst into tears.

Looking her over from top to toe the woman added. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

Lin shook her head.

“Cat got your tongue?”

Lin’s eyes widened. “No-no..” she stammered. “I’m just...I- I’ve got nowhere to go..” she choked down a sob as she finished her sentence, hating herself for being so weak and scared, but she just couldn’t help it. She was completely out of her dept and so confused and tired over everything that had happened in the past days.

“Do you want to come in? I can give you a cup of tea, something to eat and a bed for the night?” The woman offered.

Lin wasn’t sure how old she was, but it couldn’t be that old. Maybe 35 or so. Old enough to be a figure she felt she could rely on, but young enough for Lin not to feel the wariness she had always felt towards most of the adults in the community. And so she nodded shyly, which earned her a warm smile from the woman.

“Well, come on in then honey.”

Lin, still somewhat hesitantly, crossed the street and went up the stairs of the porch. What if she made a mistake? This was a big city, the scary world she had been taught about. What if this lady was a bender, what if this is where she would get kidnapped? Well, she immediately thought to herself, you already have been kidnapped, you idiot. It can’t get that much worse than the situation you are already in, she chastised.

The moment she had reached the top of the stairs and stood face to face with the lady, all her hesitation ebbed away, as her intuition told her that this woman could be trusted.

“There, you look like you need a good night’s sleep and a bowl of warm soup. I am Lua by the way.” She greeted Lin and Lin nodded in response, eyes downcast.

“Thank you, miss. I am Lin.” She whispered, her usual defiance and bravery nowhere in sight.

“Well, come on in, Lin.” Lua said kindly. “My home isn’t much, really just this room and my bedroom. But I can make you a bed in front of the fireplace here tonight.” And to emphasize her words she casually sent a spark of fire from her finger tips into the fireplace.

“You’re a _bender_..” Lin whispered in awe.

“That’s right.” Lua smiled casually, “are you?”

“Uhm- no, yes, maybe...I’m trying to figure that out.” Lin struggled to get out of her words, before she was overtaken by a big yawn.

Lua chuckled. “Well, that sounds like something you have to tell me more about tomorrow. First some food for you and then sleep. I think that’s best.”

Lin nodded obediently and as she went to sit down on a chair while Lua prepared her a bowl of soup, she exhaled slowly.

Take things one step at a time, Lin, she told herself. First you left the island, then you reached the city, now you found a place to sleep and tomorrow you will ask Lua what she knows about chi blocks and you’ll take it from there. You can do this. You’re Lin, and that is all you need to know.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who replied to the previous chapter! Your comments made me so happy and even though I had a bit of a messy week, it made me try harder to still give you an update this weekend. So here it is :)!
> 
> I hope you all like how I wrote Lua and her dynamic with Lin. I imagine Lua to be this confident, easygoing Ba Sing Se-working class woman. And Lin, who has no memory of anyone ever being this free and happy is just fascinated by it all. 
> 
> Best,  
> Metope

“You didn’t sleep a lot tonight, did you?” Lua asked Lin the following morning as she entered the living room. By then, Lin had been sitting in front of the fireplace with a blanket wrapped around her for at least two hours already even though the sun was barely up yet.

“No, I couldn’t sleep.” Lin admitted before quickly adding. “But it wasn’t because of anything here, I am very grateful that you were willing to help!”

“So then why didn’t you sleep?”

Lin blinked as she observed Lua, who was now casually walking towards the small kitchen island in a corner of the room while stretching her arms above her head in an attempt to wake herself up. Lua had long black hair that she wore in a high ponytail. Large earrings framed her round shaped face and she wore a simple dark red dress. She didn’t seem annoyed or insulted that Lin hadn’t been sleeping despite her hospitality and her efforts to make her feel comfortable, Lin thought. She was just focused on preparing breakfast. She was just...minding her own business while also being genuinely interested in Lin for the sake of _Lin_ , and not because of something else, she realized. But why?

“Why are you helping me?”

Now, Lua looked up from what she was doing and Lin saw a hint of sadness mixed into the amber color of her eyes. “Because yesterday, I saw a girl walking on the street, all by herself, nearly in rags and with evening about to fall. Once upon a time, I walked those streets in a similar way and a kind person helped me out. So now I am doing the same…because those streets are no place for a child, let alone one that didn’t grow up in them.”

In any other scenario, Lin would have been quick to counter that she was hardly a child, she was going to be thirteen in two months after all. But something in the way in which Lua said it made less like a judgment and more like an observation, and Lin could live with that.

“Oh.” She therefore answered sheepishly, unsure what else to say. “Thank you.”

Lua nodded. “So why didn’t you sleep?”

“Thoughts. Too many of them.”

“I have your breakfast almost ready, why don’t you tell me what all those thoughts are about then?”

Lin suddenly started to feel nervous at that. What was she going to tell? The truth? And if so, what was that even? And would Lua make her go back to her father if she mentioned him?

But once she sat down and she got a bowl of rice and some other things she didn’t quite recognize but tasted delicious, pushed into her hands, it was almost as if her story told itself when she opened her mouth.

All the while, Lua kept a straight face, not telling her a thing about what she was thinking. But once Lin was done a look of compassion and understanding entered her face. “You were _very_ brave for doing that, Lin. It mustn’t have been easy to leave your whole life behind, even when that life wasn’t to your liking.”

Lin shrugged. “It was a lie, anyways.”

“Still, you’re what, thirteen years old?”

“Almost, in two months.”

“Much too young to be going through something like this.” Lua stated. “I have to be honest with you. I expected you might be a runaway, and was half prepared to make you see reason to return to your home –“

Lin’s eyes widened. “No! Please, I can’t go back there!” She quickly started pleading. “I won’t go back there! And-“

“ _But_ ,” Lua caught her off and gave the girl a pointed look. “I have a pretty good intuition to tell whether people are lying, and I can tell that you are not. Besides, it is a much too elaborate and detailed story you just told me to be make this up. Which means, there is clearly no way that you can go back there and leaves me with one other question. Namely, did you think of what you want to do now?”

Having pulled her feet up the chair and her knees to her chest, as she listened to Lua and had braced herself to hear Lua say that despite everything she had to go back, Lin now relaxed a little and dared to tear her gaze away from the spot on the table she had been staring at to look at Lua instead “I thought, that maybe I should start by getting my bending back, to see if I really am one. And since you are a bender, maybe you know what I need to do to fix the chi block?”

Lua nodded pensively at that. “Starting with regaining your bending might indeed be clever. I know nothing about chi blocking, but I am sure we can ask around and find someone who does. But what I really meant is, where are you going to go from here?”

Now Lin’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t thought about that yet. She had been so set on asking Lua about chi blocking that she hadn’t taken the scenario into account where she couldn’t go to solve that problem right away and would again have the problem to find a place to sleep at night.

Seeing the answer written on Lin’s face, Lua chuckled. “Here’s an offer, Lin. You must have noticed that the people here in the lower ring aren’t very wealthy. But, the reason why _I_ am able to live in this little house, is because I am the manager of a little tea house in the middle ring. Now, the owner has recently instructed me to find someone to help out, as business has picked up, but the money he offers is so little that no one suitable has shown up for the job yet.

So, here’s what I am thinking. If you’re up for it, my proposal would be that you will be my assistant in the tea house. You can live here with me for as long as you want in exchange, and I can even still pay you a little bit on top of that. And meanwhile you can ask around in the middle ring about chi blocking. How does that sound?”

For the third time that morning, Lin was stunned into silenece over Lua’s generous offer. Was it _too_ generous? Could she trust Lua? Then again, did she even have another option? And so she asked the question again that first came to mind. “ _Why_ are you being so kind to me? You don’t even know if I’ll be a good assistant?” She blurted out and Lua chuckled.

“You aren’t one who likes to be fooled hm? I guess that is a good attitude to have especially after you just told me your story. But don’t worry, Lin. I know you’ll be good at the job because I have seen you walking around here, you walk balanced - like a bender almost, even though you may not know how to bend. As for kindness, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be kind. Like I said, I just have a good sense for telling if people are good natured at heart or not, and my gut is telling me to help you, so I am. Besides, some company would be fun.”

The tiniest sliver of hope sparked inside Lin as she allowed Lua’s words to sink in.

“So what do you say?”

“ _Yes_ , okay!” Lin then exclaimed. “Thank you, Lua! Thank you so much. I won’t let you down, I’ll work really hard!” She promised seriously and Lua just laughed at the girl’s excitement.

“I am glad. And I am sure you won’t let me down. You don’t look like the type of person who does.” She winked and the compliment made a wide smile appear on Lin’s face.

“Why, don’t you have a lovely smile, we need to make sure that one comes out more.” Lua beamed and it caused Lin to blush. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever noticed her or anything about her. She was always just a big nuisance to overyone. A big yawn overcame her and Lua chuckled.

“Seems like we were able to put some thoughts to rest. Why don’t you try to catch a few more hours of sleep? I will be going to the tea house soon but you can stay here.”

Lin wanted to protest and say that she could come along with Lua. But she also felt how tired she still was and realized she wouldn’t be of much help tired and so she nodded obediently while Lua got ready.

“I’ll be going then!” Lua said once she was ready. Turning in the door opening she looked back at Lin, who was sitting a little unsure on the mattress. “Oh and Lin? Please do not go outside today? I don’t want you to get lost in this city and you aren’t used to the area yet. I will be back before dark. In the cupboard on the right you’ll find some bread if you’re hungry. But mainly just try to get more sleep!” Lin wanted to say that she would be staying in like Lua said and could maybe help with dinner. But just like that Lua was out the door. Lin continued to stare for a long time at the wooden door for a long time after Lua had gone, as her mind tried to make sense of this woman, who was so bubbly, and light and _easy_ compared to the Elders and the Advisors and the Clerks who were always just angry and stern.

Once she finally managed to stop her mind from going over everything that had happened in the past hours. It turned out that there had been no need for Lua to warn Lin not to go out. Because as soon as her head had hit the pillow she was out and she only woke up when it was dark again. Lua wasn’t back yet, but Lin figured it wouldn’t take long. Wanting to help the woman, Lin went into the kitchen area to prepare a dinner with the vegetables and items she had seen there earlier.

When Lua got home half an hour later, a good smelling soup was simmering on the stove. “What a nice surprise, this smells delicious! I was worried about having to tell you that I hadn’t had the chance to go to the market today and buy us dinner, but clearly there was no need.” Lua greeted her happily and Lin couldn’t help but beam again at the other woman’s visible joy over her surprise.

“I had to cook a lot at home - I mean - at the island.” Lin explained somewhat shyly as Lua was now dropping her things to the floor and had lifted the lid of the pan to take in the smell of the soup with closed eyes and a satisfied smile. “Well, you can _definitely_ cook more often.”

“Then I will. If you still think so after you tasted it.” Lin replied seriously.

Lua now opened her eyes, a compassionate look on her face. “I meant that as a joke, Lin. You don’t have to “earn” your place here. If anything, you’re doing that already by helping me out in the tea house. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here. This is supposed to be your home too now, at least for a while until you have found your bearings again.”

Lin nodded wide-eyed as she tried to truly understand what Lua was saying. She couldn’t help but continue to feel on edge however, expecting there to be a catch that Lua could reveal any moment now. But Lua continued to say there was none. And although Lin really tried to allow herself to believe those words, right now they were mainly confusing.

Lua seemed to once again catch on to her internal struggle as she sent her an encouraging smile. “You’ll see in time that it is safe here, Lin. Don’t worry. - now, time to eat!” And just like that, the sense of heaviness that Lin had felt before, was lifted again.

Working in the tea house in the middle ring was a fun and fascinating experience for Lin. Just being in the middle ring in itself was a world of day and night and Lin wondered, if this clean city was the middle ring, what on earth the upper ring would look like. She imagined a stately palace surrounded by beautiful gardens and mansions for only the wealthiest and most powerful. Because the Elders might have been wrong about benders for as far as Lin could tell, they were right about the inequality and how unfair life in the world was. Or in any case in Ba Sing Se.

In the lower ring, Lin and Lua were treated like everyone else. In the middle ring, Lin soon noticed people looking down on them. Despite their clean, crisp clothes - Lua had given Lin a light green tunic with yellow loose pants and a yellow scarf to tie around her waist to wear - and good manners, it was still obvious to the inhabitants of the middle ring that they were not from there bur from the lower ring, and thus they were less. In the tea house, people sometimes could be downright rude without any other reason than their ranking in society.

On top of that, Lin noticed that some people treated Lua differently than Lin. Not just because Lua was the manager, or because she was the one warming the tea. Rather, some people – mostly non-benders but also the occasional water- or earthbender – would become wary when they saw Lua bending, whereas others, mainly other firebenders, would get friendlier. In all this, Lin was ignored. She was a child. And she was a non-bender. Therefore, she did not matter. It was an odd realization to have and one she carefully tested on Lua one night.

The woman initially had said nothing after her question but Lin had seen she was thinking what to answer. Then eventually Lua had nodded, and answered that due to the 100 year war, some people were still wary of firebenders. At the same time, it was also true that non-benders, even though the Earthqueen was a nonbender, weren’t treated as equals by others. There were far more non-benders living in the lower circle than there were benders for example.

Lin had taken all the information in like a sponge, while constantly weighing it against what she had been taught all her life. After four months in the city – Lua had baked her a beautiful cake for her thirteenth birthday which instantly made it the best day in her life, as on the island, birthdays were not celebrated – it eventually brought her to the conclusion that although the Elders were wrong in saying that all bending is bad, there definitely seemed to be a certain negligence of benders towards their non-bending fellow citizens. The way the community on the island had framed it however was completely wrong and their actions and hostility towards benders unwarranted.

After that first observation, Lin got more and more questions about life in the Earth Kingdom and Ba Sing Se. Lua seemed not to mind answering all the questions Lin had, and so she continued to ask them. On one of those occasions, as they were making their way from the train station back home, she had mentioned that she hadn’t seen any airbenders yet, which had caused Lua to laugh.

“Haven’t they even told you _that_ much about the Avatar?” She asked incredulously and when Lin shrugged she continued.

“You do know what and whom the Avatar is, right?”

“Of course I do.” Lin quickly replied, a little bit insulted at the question.

“Well, even an Avatar is born in one of the four nations, thus already possessing that element from the start as a bender. Avatar Aang was from the Air Nation. They also called him The Last Airbender with a reason..”

Lin was about to ask why, when it hit her that this was the answer to her question. “Oh...so that’s it? If Avatar Aang ever does there will not be any Airbenders anymore?”

Lua shrugged. “I don’t know. I believe he has children, but I only know that one of them is a waterbender and the other one has just joined the United Forces this year so I guess he isn’t an airbender either because they’re pretty pacifist people. I actually stopped keeping track of it. I don’t exactly read the newspapers as you might have noticed. People like us don’t have time for that or to care about what is happening miles away from here in another nation. Life is complicated enough as it is.”

Lin nodded, disappointed a little that Lua did not seem to know more about the Avatar and the Airbenders and did not seem to care much for it either, but also happy that Lua had included her in calling them ‘one of us’ – she didn’t mind being part of _this_ group. “Being an Airbender sounds amazing to me.” She sighed. “Imagine being able to bend and then _fly_.”

Lua chuckled. “First let’s see if we can make you an earthbender, hm? – Speaking of which…I talked to someone today, who knows someone who might be able to help you with the chi blocking.”

Lin took a sharp intake of breath at that. “You did?” She tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, but her anticipation made her voice tremble regardless.

Lua nodded. “I talked to one of my customers who knows more about these things. I shared parts of your predicament with him – nothing much, even if they are still looking for you, this won’t give them a lead.” Lua quickly added when Lin visibly tensed next to her. Then she continued. “So this customer said that if your chi has been blocked for so long, you’re not just going to need a healer. You’re going to need a _guru_ and a good one at that.”

Lin frowned. “Okay…And where do I find one of those? Something tells me those aren’t around much.”

Lua chuckled. “You’re right. Because when is anything ever easy, hm? But the good news is that my customer knew where to find one. Apparently, there is a woman living in the Foggy Swamp in the south of the Earth Kingdom who will be able to help.”

Lin swallowed. The Foggy Swamp was a journey of months by foot – and she definitely didn’t have money for a train. How was she ever going to get there?

“You’re focusing on the bad part in this story, aren’t you?” Lua’s voice sounded next to her.

“How can I not? The Foggy Swamp is so far away from here!” Lin exclaimed, a feeling of desperation causing her voice to rise. “How am I ever going to get there? Alone!?”

Lua now stopped walking and grabbed Lin’s hand to make her stop as well. “Hey kiddo, calm down. This is _good_ news. You came here to find a way to restore your bending and get your chi unblocked, hoping that might trigger some memories. This is the first step to that. We always knew there would be a point in time where your journey would continue.”

As Lin stared into Lua’s warm eyes, she suddenly felt incredibly small and not at all like the teenager she felt she was supposed to be. Thirteen years maybe wasn’t all that much after all..

“I know, it’s just…I never asked for any of this. I don’t get why things just can’t be easy.” She muttered, moving from one leg to the other nervously.

Lua gave her an understanding look. “Don’t worry, Lin. It is not like you are going to go right away. You don’t think I’m going to let you out into that world like this, do you? No, no. We are going to make a plan, and I’m going to get in touch with some friends I know with whom you can stay on your way there. But _first_ we are going to check how much you have saved up already and see how much longer before you can go without having to steal food or starve. Alright?”

Lin took a deep breath in and out before she felt calm enough to mirror Lua’s encouraging smile. “Alright..I guess.”

“That’s the spirit…but please drop the guessing. No need for that. This will work out. We’re going to get you your bending back and then find your family kiddo, don’t you worry.”

Lin didn’t respond to that, but as they continued their way home a new feeling of hope had settled in her chest and the corners of her mouth were curved a little upwards the entire way. She would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to break it to you all that Lin is defintely not going to be alright for a while longer - but I figured it would be nice to give her - and us - a break for at least a while, before she is going to find herself in the next predicament >:-).


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,
> 
> thank you so much for your enthousiastic comments on the previous chapter and apologies for the wait! I have been having a pretty challenging time, it is busy at work and I just couldn't find the time or headspace to write. Luckily, I found some time this evening as well as yesterday, so here finally is another chapter.   
> For those of you who are also following my other story Tethered, do not worry, I am still working on the epilogue. I just want to do it justice so it is coming along a little slower than you might be used of with me. 
> 
> I am very curious of what you all will think of this specific chapter, as I am sendin Lin straight into her next predicament. I'm so sorry :).. The good news is that we also get closer and closer to LinZin (although right now you won't be able to reason how that will come about just yet...) 
> 
> Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you!  
> Best,
> 
> Metope

At fourteen years old and with a little over a year’s worth of wages from the Tea House did Lin eventually embark on her journey.

She hadn’t planned on staying with Lua that long. But with each passing day she realized that there was no guarantee that unlocking her bending would also unlock her memories. Which meant that the sooner she went to the guru, the sooner she would be without a plan or a clue what to do again. And suddenly she didn’t have so much haste anymore. Better to save up for this journeyaAnyways. When she had carefully brought it up with Lua, the woman had nodded understandingly.

“Although just a number, fourteen is better than thirteen anyways for a journey like this.”

So Lin stayed, and she worked, and she watched the benders around her, especially the earthbenders. And to her surprise sometimes, when she focused really hard, she thought she managed to make the tiniest of pebbles tremble just ever so slightly. Lua had said she saw it too, but Lin wasn’t so sure whether she truly did, or that she was just indulging her.

Over time, Lin had grown even more fond of Lua and Lua of her. Lua was her friend, and the closest to what Lin thought it would feel like to have an older sister looking out for you. Saying goodbye, although intended not to be for long, was hard therefore.

But now she was here. On a local train from Ba Sing Se to Full Moon Bay. There she would take the ferry and stay with friends of Lua.

Sat on a bench with her bag clutched to her chest, staring down at the floor and the empty bench opposite of her, she was trying her hardest to mind her own business, as Lua had told her.

But regardless of her efforts, she soon found a pair of shoes slide into her vision.

“What is a girl like you doing here all alone?”

She debated whether to ignore the voice, that perhaps would be best.

“Hey, hello? Are you deaf I’m talking to you.” A hand waved in front of her eyes. No ignoring then.

Looking up slowly, she found immediately found it difficult to hide the annoyance on her face upon seeing who was sitting in opposite of her. She knew this type of boy.

Ever since she had grown taller and looked less like a child and more like, as Lua liked to call it, a young woman, this type of boy, a little older than she was herself had started to notice her in the tea house. She ignored them but they were always trying to get her attention. So if ignoring them did not work, at first, she would ask Lua if she could stay in the back for a while, as confronting them was not an option - it would disturb the other customers. Later, she learned how to put them in their place with a snark comment or glare without causing a scene.

Right now however, neither ignoring or going away seemed an option. Scanning her surroundings quickly, she saw that safe for a man and woman in the back of the coach, they were alone. The couple didn’t look like they were aware at all of Lin’s presence and that of the guy. So no help was to be expected from there.

Confrontation it was then.

“What do you want?”

“Hey, hey, no need to be so cranky. What did _I_ ever do?” The guy exclaimed in mock indignation.

Lin sighed. “Why don’t you just go away and we both mind our own business, alright?”

“But where would be the fun in that?” He pressed.

“Fine, you wanna do something fun?” Lin asked, sending him a fake smile which he stupidly interpreted for a real one. Thinking he was catching on to something he raised a suggestive eyebrow at her.

“What do you suggest?”

“How about, we wait until the train is crossing the bridge over the lake and then you open the door and go stand in the doorway, and then I push you so that you fall into the water. That sounds like fun, don’t you think?”

Something shifted in the boy’s face. His dark eyes losing some of their fake kindness and his own irritation started to shine through.

“Why don’t you tell me what you have in that bag is of value so I can decide whether to take it, how’s that for fun?”

Lin’s eyes widened, _that_ she hadn’t seen coming. She clutched the bag tighter to her chest. A mistake, because it gave away that there was something of value in there.

“I have nothing. I thought you had looked at me. The quality of my clothes should tell you I have nothing.”

“And yet here you are on a regional train in second class.”

Lua had said it would be safer than third. But in third she wouldn’t have stood out so, and in second she clearly did, Lin now realized.

“As are you.” She countered, keeping her voice uneven and uninterested.

From the corner of her eye she saw the couple had noticed something going on and were now getting up to leave quickly. Cowards.

The train slowed down, they were nearing the next station. An escape, Lin thought with relief. “Ah this is my stop. My uncle is waiting for me just outside. Better luck next time, bye.” She sent him a bold smirk. The glint in his eyes should have told her in that moment that she had been wrong to do so. But she was just so happy that there was a way out that she hadn’t paid attention. She would jump off the train, wait for the next one to come and only arrive half an hour later. Her ticket wouldn’t exactly be valid anymore, but that was for later worries.

But later never came. Because the train hadn’t truly left the station yet, and the people around Lin on the station had only barely cleared the station, and there he stood. The boy. A malicious grin on his face.

Before she could do anything he had stomped his foot and just like that she was caught in a cone of stone. Only her head and her hands were sticking out. One of them holding her bag.

Lin instantly knew she was done for, but that didn’t keep her from fighting and trying to break free. She wiggled and pulled and pushed, the stones scraping and hurting her even through her tunic which she was sure was ripping.

The guy just laughed an evil grin again. “You’re only going to hurt yourself, little girl.”

In two large strides he was in front of her and with one move, he pulled the bag from her hand. He was about to turn around when his eyes fell on her neck and the thin cord around it that disappeared behind her clothes. “Of course...” he whispered.

She wanted to yell at him, beg him not to do it. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. So instead she gave him her angriest stare as his hand traveled to her neck, pulling at the chord until the little satchel with nearly all her money appeared.

“There it is.” He grinned. “Thanks little girl.” She whipped her head to the left defiantly when he lifted a finger to trail from her neck to her chin to humiliate her. The ground started trembling a little below their feet.

She thought it was his doing but by the way he had to regain his footing she realized it wasn’t him. Was someone coming to help her? Looking around her quickly she searched but she saw no one.

“Well, well! You’re a bender yourself. A pathetic one at that. Such little power can’t save you.” He laughed maliciously.

In response she did the only thing she could come up with. She spit at him. Right in his face.

Gone was his smile. Back was the rage. How did she dare to cross him like that.

“Fine.” He growled. “I have had it with you. If you’re so sure of yourself then bend yourself out of that cone, why don’t you?”

Her eyes were shooting daggers, her skin hot and red with anger, but she didn’t reply. Just followed him as he nonchalantly strolled away from her. Bag dangling from his fingers as to bait her.

And she tried. She tried with every fiber in her being to pull herself free from the rocks or let the ground where that idiot was walking open. But nothing happened. Had it really been her who had bent? Then why couldn’t she free herself now?

It didn’t work. And when the guy was long out of sight already, Lin was still stuck. All she could do was wait for the next train now, 15 more minutes.

She let out a scream of frustration and anger. She had been on her way for not even a full day yet and she had lost a year’s working worth of money and with that her only way of getting to the Swamp within a week’s time.

“That is quite the amount of pent up energy you harbor there.”

Lin whipped her head to the direction the voice came from. On her right a woman in a dark leather one-piece was leaned against a tree. Her black long hair hung in waves over her shoulders. Amusement shone in her eyes as she looked at Lin.

With a simple wave of her hand, the earth around her disappeared and Lin instantly fell to her knees now that there was no stone holding her up anymore. She winced at the feeling of her arms and legs. At the bruises and the scratches where her tunic had ripped.

“If you come with me I can have a healer look at those scratches.”

Standing up, Lin looked at the woman with an angry frown.

“And what makes you think I would want to go with you?” She bit.

“You just got robbed. You have nothing and you clearly don’t belong here, so forgive me but it doesn’t look like you are here with a purpose.” The woman said dryly and Lin turned red from embarrassment

“You saw that and you didn’t think to help?”

“I was about to but then I sensed your indeed rather pathetic attempt at bending and I knew the spirits wanted to me do otherwise.”

Lin arched an eyebrow. “The _spirits_ did?” She asked sarcastically.

“Your chi is blocked.”

Now _that_ caught Lin’s attention. “What do you know about that?” She demanded to know and the woman smirked now Lin had shown her that she was interested.

“Enough to be sure that me and my friends can help you get rid of it, if you come with me.”

That made her wary again. “Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t.” The woman grinned. “I am Palma. I am a recruiter. Do you know what that is?”

Lin shook her head.

“I look for interesting people. Powerful benders. People with potential. People like you.”

Lin merely arched her eyebrow again.

“A girl your age, with as little muscle as you have, who manages to bend through a chi block as strong and old as the one I sense in you? That is not nothing. That means you have power.” Palma explained.

Lin held her breath as she tried to make sense of Palma’s words. “Even if what you said were true...then how are you sure you can help me? I need a guru.”

“I know. And in our camp, we have one of those.”

“Really? A guru? In your camp?” Lin scoffed.

Palma shrugged, a sly smile still on her lips. “Maybe not a guru exactly but we have someone there spiritual enough that he can help you. You can come with me to see for yourself. Or you can stay here and try to figure out how to get back to Ba Sing Se without a penny. Your choice. I don’t beg.”

And with that Palma pushed herself off the tree and slowly turned around, walking down the path that led away from the station.

Looking to her left, Lin saw the next train showing up in the distance. There was no way she could stay hidden on that train without a ticket or money and now also looking at this. Besides, why would she have to? If this Palma was right, she would only have to follow her to wherever this camp was, and she would find a guru there.

 _Don’t trust anyone you meet. It isn’t safe_. She heard Lua’s imaginary voice in her head.

 _I don’t have much of a choice though, do I?_ Lin answered back.

“Wait!” She called after Palma and the woman slowly turned around. “You said I shouldn’t trust you. How am I supposed to believe what you are saying then?”

Palma nodded. “A fair question. Look at it this way, if I wanted you to come to trap you or harm you, would I have said you couldn’t trust me?” She paused to let the words sink in before she continued. “So doesn’t that then mean that you actually can trust me in speaking the truth?”

Lin stared at Palma intently. There was something about her. Some hidden agenda, something she wasn’t saying. But it wasn’t about the guru. Her gut told her that was true. She had always been good at telling if people were speaking the truth or not. She would sense a certain calm around them when they spoke the truth. A calm that would turn all erratic if people lied. Palma was very calm.

So what if she held back something else? Lin would only go there for the guru, and once she had her bending back she would leave again. As a bender it surely would be much easier to navigate her way back to Ba Sing Se. She would be able to defend herself and travel through the serpent’s pass by herself.

And so Lin nodded eventually. “Alright. I’ll come with you.”

Lin wasn’t sure what she had expected when Palma had mentioned a camp. But the one they reached once they had passed the handful of trees around the station and had walked down a path in between the towering rocky cliffs, hadn’t been what she had in mind. Situated in an opening between two large cliffs, there it was. And surely, there were tents and remnants of a campfire. But there wasn’t that agreeable atmosphere Lin imagined around campfires. Instead she saw a handful of teenagers, her age or older hang around the camp, an annoyed look in their faces.

One gave a shake with his head to great them once they reached the camp.

“Pako?” Palma asked her.

“In his tent.” The girl hummed, her eyes quickly fixating on Lin. As were the others, Lin now noticed.

She tried to ignore it as she schooled her features and tried to look as unfazed as possible. But she felt small. Small between the cliffs. Small behind Palma and small in between those teenagers with their athletic builds and unkind faces.

Who Pako was she didn’t have to wonder about for long as a long thin man with messy brown hair suddenly climbed out of a large tent on their left.

“A challenge! You brought me a challenge!” He exclaimed, his eyes glazed and looking up to the sky instead of at them while he spoke. Lin wondered for a moment how he could be looking right into the sun at this time of day, when it was at its brightest. But then she quickly realized that it was because this man could not see.

She shivered involuntarily. How had he known they were there then?

“I sensed you coming this way.” He explained as if he had heard her thoughts.

“Hi Pako.” Palma greeted him with a kind smile. “This is...”

“Lin!” Lin quickly supplied, realizing she had never given Palma her name. Another reason why she would be fine, Lin thought, Palma hadn’t even bothered to invest in getting to know who she was dealing with.

“Lin here got into a bit of a predicament. I first need Nalam to heal her and then we are going to need..”

“..my help with all the chi blocks.” Pako nodded. “I sensed them from far away. They are old and well performed. But I can break them.”

Hope started to sprout in Lin’s stomach.

“I don’t need a healer. I just want the chi block gone! We can start right away.” She quickly spoke.

Both adults laughed, although Pako’s laugh sounded more like cackling.

“Eager are we? - but what do you have to offer in return?”

“Wh-what?”

“You didn’t think I would restore your bending just like that, did you? Especially with a chi block as complicated as yours?” Gone was the image of the easygoing blind guy, replaced by a calculated middle-aged man. He reminded her of the elders.

With a look of shock Lin turned to look at Palma. But the woman shrugged.

“I don’t make the rules or set the prices. Sometimes he does it for nothing. I thought he would this time too.” Lin didn’t believe a word of what she said.

Much of an alternative there wasn’t either. Turning back towards Pako, Lin stared down at the ground with a straight face before she spoke. He wouldn’t be able to see, but something told her that he would be able to sense her every emotion. “Name your price. But know that I have nothing.”

A grin appeared on his face. “On the contrary, little Lin. You have very much. Talent, power, potential...you have it all within you. No wonder, considering your lineage..”

At that, Lin’s head whipped up, “What do you know about me? Can you tell me who my family is, my _mom,_ I mean?!”

“Tut-tut, all those questions but no payment.” Pako said mockingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You haven’t named your price, that’s why.” Lin countered defiantly.

The man grinned. “In return for unblocking your chi, I want you to allow us to train you and you will fight for us.”

Lin frowned. “Fight? For what? Is there a war?”

“Spirits, you are more naive than I thought. I thought you were from Ba Sing Se.” Palma now spoke with rolling eyes. “I told you I am a recruiter, what did you think that was for? Look around you, girl. This camp, the other teens over there. This is a combat bending network.”

When Lin looked at her non-understandingly she continued. “You would be working for us. Fighting against other benders. You have to win, because otherwise you cost us money instead of making it, and failing is not an option here.”

“Okay...” Lin let her voice trail. “But I’m not exactly… _strong_. I don’t even know how to fight.”

“We’ll train you.” Palma countered.

Lin frowned. Her gut was telling her everything about this was very fishy. And moments before she would have made the decision to turn back and find help, call Lua and start over. But that was before she knew that these people knew something about her family. They were clearly not to be trusted, but the way Pako had spoken about her lineage told Lin that _that_ part could very well be true. And thus she had to stay at least long enough to find out.

“How long would I have to stay with you?” She therefore asked and Pako smiled his sly smile again, thinking he had caught her.

“A year in exchange for unblocking you. You won’t be profitable to us for the first six months at least. So we need double it for you to pay us back.”

“And for the information about my mom?” Lin asked, noticing he hadn’t mentioned it again.

“Clever girl.” Pako grinned. “After the year, if you still want the information, you shall have it.”

Of course she would still want the information by then, Lin thought to herself. She sighed inwardly. A year. Another year of her life. She would be fifteen by the time she could continue to look for her mother. But what was another year after she had been so many years without already?

“Alright. Deal.” Lin found herself say before her mind had fully wrapped itself around her decision.

“Wonderful!” Pako cried and Palma shook her head with a smile.

“Welcome to the team, Lin.” As she passed Lin she briefly placed her hand on Lin’s shoulder. It almost seemed as if it was to wish her courage Lin didn’t know yet she would need.

Turning her attention back to Pako, Lin asked. “So, are you the leader of this camp also?”

Pako smirked. “For now, yes. But if you mean the leader of the combatting team, no. I am just your supervisor. But this camp and team belong to the Grand Sawi, king of the Ba Sing Se underworld.”

At those words, Lin felt herself pale. That name she knew, and she also knew that wasn’t good news. “Wait...” she started, “is any of this even legal?”

At that, Pako let out another cackling laugh. “So many questions. So curious. And yet still so ignorant. That island really did a number on you, didn’t it? We’ll have our hands full with you, I suspect.”

Lin arched an eyebrow, yet another thing that the elders used to say. With every passing minute Lin started to wonder if she could still back out of the deal. But Pako seemed to read her thoughts.

“It is too late to run now, little Lin. If you break your word I will tell Sawi that you did. You won’t get far, I can guarantee. Sawi let’s no one escape.”

“I won’t say a thing, I swear.” Lin found herself promise in a small voice.

But Pako just laughed again. The sight of his yellow crooked teeth made her nearly sick by now. “That is what they all say. But you understand that that is a risk that cannot be taken. You’re one of us now, Lin. We told you too much already. So what do you choose, a painful death by the hands of the underworld, or a flourishing life as a combat bender?”

As he presented her the fake dilemma, Pako held a side of his tent open invitingly.

“Fine. Let’s get that block off me, shall we?” Lin growled as she stalked inside.

A year. She would only have to make it through a year. Then she would have fulfilled her part of the bargain and she would leave.

But if Sawi didn’t want anyone to go who knew too much, would they even let her go by then? A little voice in the back of her mind whispered. Pushing it to the side, Lin went to sit down on the stool inside the spacious tent that Pako pointed at. No use to think of what would happen in a year, she told herself. Although deep down, Lin knew that she had just let herself get lured into the gang of one of Ba Sing Se’s biggest criminals..


End file.
